French prodigy Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) has already had an enormous 12 months in his first 12 months as an expert, already competing with the most effective at solely 19 years outdated, however on Sunday he capped the season off with one final huge efficiency.
Having completed his racing season at Il Lombardia – the place he completed seventh in his first-ever Monument – you may need anticipated Seixas to take a while away from the bike, however no.
The Frenchman set off at 3.06am on Sunday, and was out for greater than 15 hours, within the journey that he titled „Ending off the season nicely“ with a salute and shivering emoji – with temperatures already all the way down to round six levels Celsius within the Alps.
The route he rode was largely the reverse of the Tour du Mont Blanc sportive, one of many hardest sportives on the market. He rode climbs together with the Col des Saisies, Cormet de Roselend, Petit Saint-Bernard, Grand Saint-Bernard and the Col de la Forclaz.
He took the KOM on the Grand Saint-Bernard, finishing the 34km climb in 1:44:16.
Solely turning 19 in September, Seixas has been taking over the WorldTour as a youngster this 12 months, telling Cyclingnews within the Spring how he needed to double his coaching load from juniors to elites to have the ability to compete.
His 323km mammoth journey on Sunday was his longest journey of the 12 months, based on Strava, after his longest race of the 12 months got here on the World Championships in Rwanda, the place he completed thirteenth after 267km of racing.
A deeper have a look at Seixas‘ Strava reveals the numbers of his debut season: he is ridden 10,577km this 12 months, up from 5,705km final 12 months, spending simply over 300 hours on his bike.
By way of outcomes, this 12 months has seen Seixas end seventh in a Monument, thirteenth at Worlds and third on the European Championships, and he took a dominant total victory on the Tour de l’Avenir, which was his solely foray into the under-23 ranks, opting to journey with the most effective of the WorldTour for a lot of the 12 months.
He did not full a Grand Tour this 12 months, however his progress suggests {that a} debut in 2026 is on the playing cards. With massive rides like Sunday’s already within the financial institution, it definitely seems to be like he’s on that path.
