A dominant attack
A lively, fast and tactical race, with all the favourites racing together on the penultimate climb, the steep Civiglio (4.2 km @ 9.7%), became dramatic when Seixas rode to the front of the favourites’ group and gradually increased the pace.
And one by one, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe), Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5), Isaac del Toro, and world road race champion Brandon McNulty (both UAE Team Emirates–XRG) were dropped on the climb. Seixas killed them off softly, rather than with a single blow to the jugular, à la Tadej Pogačar.
Only Lidl-Trek’s Giulio Chiccone continued to pursue the young Frenchman, but he gradually lost ground and was eventually punished for his effort by Movistar’s Enric Mas, who passed him and then beat him to the line. Though the gaps between Seixas and his pursuers fluctuated, they continued to increase, and the young Frenchman was never threatened.
It was pure dominance. In the process of dropping his rivals, Seixas broke Pogačar’s record for climbing the Civiglio by 38 seconds. His average speed for the ascent was a jaw-dropping 20.8 km/h.
In the meantime, Ciccone was joined by Mas, who raced with the Italian for a few kilometres, then dropped him with 6 km to ride and finished second, 48 seconds behind the winner. Ciccone crossed the line 1:05 adrift, while Evenepoel outsprinted the chase group to finish fourth, at 1:20. Pidcock was sixth, in the same time, while pre-race co-favourite del Toro was 28th, nearly 5 minutes behind the winner. The young Mexican had complained about jet lag and knee issues after the World Championships.
A crazy dream
Seixas must have felt like a winner before the race because he was positively beaming when interviewed on TV. That was puzzling, considering his lacerating post–World Championship self-criticism, when he said, “I’m extremely disappointed, not only for myself because it’s what I deserve, but for the whole of France, the whole team, who did an incredible job and don’t deserve a leader like me.” But before the Lombardia, he was grinning like the proverbial cat who ate the proverbial canary. He knew.
“What I did is crazy; I still don’t realise it now,” he told TNT Sports after the race. “Everything went perfect, and my teammates [did a] great, awesome job. Everyone pushed more than what they had to do. I had amazing legs; I had the feeling that today was a great day.”
His feeling was correct. He went on to discuss his effort with the pride of a youngster and the knowledge of a veteran. “I managed to make the difference at the moment I chose, maybe a bit early because I had the feeling that the rhythm was not high enough, at least for me, to make the difference at the start of the climb. So I had to accelerate early, maybe a bit too early. There were some not steep parts, so I had to pace myself and then go all out on the tough parts. I did the best I could, and then rode a time trial – me against myself.”
He said he never knew what his lead was. “I heard it was between 30 or 40 seconds, a good gap, but not enough to think about the win before the end of the last climb. […] Then I just had to make sure not to make any mistakes on the downhill. I was careful.” Asked if this victory was different from his other wins, he said, “Yeah, it feels like a dream.”
Of course, the young man still has other dreams. In a post-race press conference, Pogačar was a big point of discussion. “It’s a great dream for me to one day really be able to compete against him,” Seixas told journalists. “Of course I have this ambition [to be the best in the world], like many riders. For the moment it’s a dream, but I’m working for my dream. Like today, I worked for the dream to win a Monument and I won it. But to beat Tadej it’s something else again. Maybe I will never beat him, but I will always try.”
The also-rans
As for European road race champion Evenepoel, he was not happy about his performance. “Seixas decided to pick up that fast pace again and keep pushing,” he said. “He didn’t launch a demarrage [a sudden, explosive acceleration]; he simply rode at a very high tempo. Hats off to him. It was impressive to see how he did it. This is a thoroughly deserved victory. […] Fourth place is a good result, but of course that’s not what we came here for.”
Evenepoel did not have to think long about an explanation for his off day. “It has been a fairly long season. Since June, things have been up and down for me, both in training and in races. I’ve had very good days, but also worse ones. And you could see that today. You have to be at 100% here, but I wasn’t. Since the Tour, I have never really found my top form again, and in races like today, that shows.”
Pidcock’s explanation for his performance was, as usual, frank, and reminded me of what riders often say after they wore themselves out by trying to keep up with Pogačar on a mountain. “I made a bit of an effort to come to the front and then went a little bit deep on the wheel of Paul and paid for it,” he told TNT Sports. “I just went into the red, and that was it.”
The race began with a five-minute protest by the riders in which they demanded more protection from cars. A number of riders have been hit by cars during a race this year, and 19-year-old Fin Tarling was killed during the Volta a Portugal when he was riding in pursuit of the peloton and was struck by a non-race vehicle on the race route. Before the race, Evenepoel told spectators at the start, “This is a signal to all organisers of cycling races. Make it safer for us because there are too many unsafe situations or accidents involving motorcycles or even cars entering the course. Sometimes riders even die.”
Pidcock and Adam Hansen, president of the riders’ union, CPA, shared a statement on Instagram that declared, “This week alone, there were multiple incidents involving vehicles on the course. Two riders crashed after hitting a motorcycle going the wrong way. Fortunately, they escaped with cuts and scrapes, but it could have been much worse. This summer, a life was tragically lost to exactly this type of failure. We will not stand for this any longer.”
Results 2026 Il Lombardia: Bergamo to Como, 239 km
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Seixas | Decathlon CMA CGM | 5:49:28 |
| 2 | Enric Mas | Movistar | +0:48 |
| 3 | Giulio Ciccone | Lidl-Trek | +1:05 |
| 4 | Remco Evenepoel | Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe | +1:20 |
| 5 | Brandon McNulty | UAE Team Emirates–XRG | +1:20 |
| 6 | Tom Pidcock | Pinarello Q36.5 | +1:20 |
| 7 | Pello Bilbao | Bahrain Victorious | +1:20 |
| 8 | Christian Scaroni | XDS Astana | +1:20 |
| 9 | Filippo Zana | Soudal Quick-Step | +1:20 |