How it unfolded
As in 2024, the UAE Team Emirates–XRG leader made the decisive break on the Monte Sante Marie gravel and white dust sector, the longest and most difficult off-road sector of the race. It is 11.5km long, 4.5km of it uphill, with ramps of up to 18% and a particularly challenging 1km stretch at 10%. Instead of attacking with 81km left to ride, as he did two years ago, he began his move 79.2km from the finish, on the steepest uphill stretch, but was tailed by 19-year-old Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), who rode to within a bike length or two of Pogačar. But then the best rider in the world accelerated again at 78.5km – and the race was more or less over.
“I looked back at one point after the first steep section and [Seixas] was not that far behind. He was actually really close,” Pogačar said after the race. “So I said ‘OK’ and realized that I need to really leave it all out there and try to snap the gap. Luckily I succeeded. Otherwise, I think he would have been on the wheel. I’m happy with the way it went.”
Seixas eventually went in pursuit of the Slovenian with the latter’s teammate Isaac del Toro on his wheel and refusing to help him. So the young Frenchman eventually waited for two chase groups – which included Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5), Wout van Aert (Visma–Lease a Bike), Romain Grégoire (Groupama–FDJ United) and Ben Healy (EF Education–EasyPost) – to increase the number of legs in the chase. But Pidcock had recurrent chain issues, van Aert was not at his best and, in what to me seemed to be a sign of respect for the youngster, the other riders did not to want to help him for fear of losing a spot on the podium.
With 50km left to ride, Pogačar led the chasers by 1:23; 40km from the finish the lead was 1:48, and ballooned to 1:57 before coming down again. Frustrated by the lack of progress, Seixas rode away from the chase group on the Colle Pinzuto (400m @ 10.5%) and quickly opened a gap to everyone but del Toro, who stayed glued to his wheel again. That meant that Seixas had to ride the remaining 19km on his own, perhaps sacrificing second place by his effort.
But the French prodigy managed to drop del Toro on the harsh final climb in Siena, the Sante Catarina ramp (460m @ 10%, with a section at 16%) and finished second after all, 1:00 behind Pogačar. He managed to take some time off the Slovenian’s margin while also beating the best of the chase group, Grégoire, to the line by 1:04. I suspect that del Toro had more gas in the tank at the end than Seixas but sort of apologized to him for making him do all the work by letting him take the runner-up spot. These two riders will almost certainly be the main protagonists of the post-Pogačar era, which means many years of intense duels and suspense, for a change.
Seixas impresses
Pogačar was gracious in victory. “I was impressed with Paul. He did a super good ride,” he said. “He showed that he can ride a bike, and he can ride under pressure, that he can deliver a result and he has incredible legs. He’s a big machine.”
While the race belonged to Pogačar, Seixas could also be declared a winner and perhaps the hero of the race, because of his age and because his performance was impressive and unexpected, whereas Pogačar just did as he always does.
“It’s a great result,” Seixas said post-race. “I didn’t say it in the [pre-race] interview, but we still aimed for the podium today. It’s definitely a very ambitious goal. I never did this race before, I barely knew the sectors, so I knew I had to rely a bit on my cyclocross skills. They were not enough, you know, since I stopped [that sport] two years ago. So I managed to ride a bit and then I fought all day to get this result.”
He went on to say: “I tried to follow [Pogačar]. He attacked just ahead of a descent. . . .I think he was more managing his effort, whereas I was going all out. He was looking back a few times, and seeing I was coming back, so he re-accelerated. . . . I wasn’t far off following him, and that shows I’m progressing, and my progression’s the most important thing.”
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Bad day for Pidcock and Visma
It was a good race for UAE Team Emirates–XRG, who had three riders in the top six, with Jan Christen finishing sixth, and good news for France, with Seixas in second and the 23-year-old Grégoire in fourth. It was not a great race for Pidcock, who is not having an ideal spring campaign. “I think you can feel a bit of sombreness here with everyone, with Visma there behind us as well,” he said. “With UAE like that, there’s not much you can do.” He suffered his two dropped chains at the worst possible moments: when UAE upped the tempo on the Monte Santa Marie and again when Pogačar attacked, and so he was left far behind and already tired from trying to catch up.
“I think my chain fell off twice on Sante Marie, and that really killed my momentum there,” he said. He finished seventh, 2:14 adrift. He was also right to point out Visma–Lease a Bike’s mediocre performance, with Matteo Jorgenson finishing eighth, 2:20 behind the winner and van Aert coming tenth at 3:46. That means young Seixas beat the two more experienced Visma riders by 1:20 and 2:46, respectively.
“I rode the race that was in my legs,” van Aert said. “It was incredibly hard. I’m still missing something, but not very much, to be with that group behind Tadej Pogačar. I’m satisfied with that. Of course I wanted more, but the selection on Monte Sante Marie was very honest. I still need to take one more step to be there with that group.”
He is not comparing his performance to that of Pogačar but to the also-rans. That says a lot about his confidence at the moment. It’s much too early to say, but with all the early-season injuries, illnesses and unexpected departures, Visma is already looking like a team in need of a boost. The team has only three wins this year (compared to 14 for UAE), two of them by the 20-year-old Matthew Brennan.
Results 2026 Strade Bianche, 203km, Siena to Siena
- Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates–XRG 4:45:15
- Paul Seixas, Decathlon CMA CGM, +1:00
- Isaac del Toro UAE Team Emirates–XRG +1:09
- Romain Grégoire, Groupama–FDJ United +2:04
- Gianni Vermeersch, Red Bull–BORA–hangrohe “
- Jan Christen, UAE Team Emirates–XRG +2:07
- Tom Pidcock, Pinarello-Q36.5 +2:14
- Matteo Jorgenson, Visma–Lease a Bike +2:20
- Andreas Kron, Uno-X Mobility +3:46
- Wout van Aert, Visma–Lease a Bike “
