Paul Seixas didn’t exactly have a bad day out in Sienna, finishing second behind reigning world champion Tadej Tadej Pogačar. But it was “Strange,” according to the Frenchman, who called out UAE-Emirates strategy after the finish.

The 19-year-old Frenchman isn’t casting doubt on Pogačar’s 80-km solo to win Strade Bianche. “Tadej Pogačar was, like he was in every race in 2024 and 2025, one or two steps above the rest,” the Decathlon-CMA-CGM rider was happy to conceed.

Instead, Seixas took issue with Pogačar’s teammate, Isaac del Toro.

Del Toro couldn’t stop Seixas entirely, but he did slow him up. Photo: Sirotti
“It was a game, and they decided to play it that way”

Instead of waiting to bring Seixas back, Pogačar’s Mexican teammate was clearly intent on disrupting his attempts to get away in the first place. On Monte Sante Marie, del Toro disrupted the Frenchman’s attemts to chase, repeatedly. Something that did not pass unnoticed by the promising French star.

“It was a big strange. When he attacked, I tried to follow Pidcock. But del Toro blocked me,” Seixas told Eurosport after the finish. “Not once or twice, but three times I was held up. It was a game, and they decided to play it that way.”

The timing of del Toro’s moves was crucial.

“When Tadej is in front of you, twenty or thirty meters is obviously too much. I tried to get back on his wheel and was very close, but the climb was five hundred meters too long,” Seixas explains. “He controlled his effort, looked back, and didn’t want me on his wheel.”

Seixas had nothing but respect for Pogačar’s on the podium. Photo: Sirotti
A second showdown, a more solid strategy

Coming into the finish, Seixas was alone with del Toro ahving dropped Pidcock and the remaining chasers. Again, the Mexican rider sat on. This strategy, Seixas had no issue with.

“He didn’t want to take over. That was understandable, because he had Tadej in front,” the Decathlon racer explained. “I thought: he’ll pass me at the end. I was just riding for the podium.”

That makes Seixas’s second place at the Italian Classic all the sweeter.

“That I still finished second and managed to get [del Toro] off my wheel was incredible,” Seixas says. “I’m very happy with my second place. It’s incredible to be here.”