{"id":205108,"date":"2026-04-13T06:57:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=205108"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:05:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:05:05","slug":"paul-seixas-dominates-itzulia-basque-country-from-start-to-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2026\/04\/13\/paul-seixas-dominates-itzulia-basque-country-from-start-to-finish\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Seixas Dominates Itzulia Basque Country from Start to Finish"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took cycling\u2019s new Wunderkind, Paul Seixas, less than four and a half hours to win the six-day Itzulia Basque Country and register his first WorldTour stage race victory.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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To be exact, it took him 4:28:57 to win the first two stages of the race, after which he had a lead of 1:59 over Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d (Red Bull\u2013BORA\u2013hansgrohe), and more than two minutes over his other prominent rivals, Rogli\u010d\u2019s teammate Florian Lipowitz, Mattias Skjelmose and Juan Ayuso (both Lidl-Trek), and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG).<\/p>\n

Early domination<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On last Monday\u2019s stage 1, the 19-year-old Decathlon CMA CGN leader simply outclassed the field in a 13.8 km time trial, finishing 23 seconds ahead of another French rider, K\u00e9vin Vauquelin (INEOS Grenadiers), with Felix Grossschatner (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG) 27 seconds adrift. That may not sound like much of a gap, but in a short ITT like this one, it means domination. Rogli\u010d was fourth, Lipowitz was sixth, del Toro was a well-beaten 13th, 51 seconds adrift, and Ayuso finished an inexplicable 38th, at 1:16.<\/p>\n

More impressive was Seixas\u2019 performance on the mountainous stage 2, where he attacked 26 km from the finish line, on the final of four categorised climbs, the category 1 San Miguel de Aralar (9.4 km @ 7.9%), soon caught what remained of the day\u2019s breakaway and then soloed all the way to the finish. His margin on a small chase group that included Rogli\u010d and Lipowitz was 1:25. Del Toro was caught out by Seixas\u2019 attack and finished 1:43 behind him, while Ayuso simply faded on the climb and came in 2:29 adrift.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the stage started, I had marked this one as a key target,\u201d Seixas said after the stage. \u201cIt was the hardest of the week, and we had planned to attack the day after the time trial. The goal was to open up gaps and then manage the race over the long term. I didn\u2019t hesitate to attack. The worst thing is being afraid to go for it. Racing like that is what I love, it\u2019s why I ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

After stage 3 Ayuso trailed by an astonishing 3:55. He abandoned the race during stage 4, complaining of a stomach problem and the lingering effects of a crash in Paris-Nice.<\/a> As for del Toro, he crashed about midway through Wednesday\u2019s stage 3 and, after trying to rejoin the race, also dropped out. As a result, the two riders thought to be the biggest threats to Seixas were no longer in the race. As it turned out, only one rider could still threaten him: Lipowitz.<\/p>\n

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Zobrazit p\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek na Instagramu<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd Itzulia Basque Country (@ehitzulia)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n