‘It’s a great dream to really be able to compete against Tadej Pogačar’ – Paul Seixas takes another step towards his man-made destiny at Il Lombardia

Before Il Lombardia, the last time we heard Paul Seixas speak after a race, he was putting together some of the most extraordinary words we’ve heard all season. “It’s shameful what I did today. I am disappointed but it’s what I deserve. My teammates deserve better than a leader like me.”

Yes, a recently-turned 20-year-old right there, berating himself for not fighting for the medals at a World Championship – an elite Worlds, his first. It was extraordinary stuff, and it begged the question, for all the supposed pressure being piled onto this young Frenchman’s shoulders, is out outweighed by the pressure he’s putting on himself?

Seixas betrayed none of that burden on Saturday, winning Il Lombardia in irresistible style and rounding off a season in which he has propelled himself to greatness with a statistic to match; he is the youngest ever winner of the Italian Monument.

Latest Videos FromCyclingnews

And perhaps you don’t get that without the kind of attitude he displayed at Worlds. It might have seemed unhealthy, but Seixas has displayed a propensity for self-flagellation already this season, most notably berating himself for his Dauphiné-ruining crash, which then led to a much calmer ride at the Tour de France, where he placed a remarkable fourth on debut at 19.

Seixas is impetuous, but he does seem to be able to channel it in a positive way and, when it boils over, turn it into something new.

You may like

“Honestly, I don’t know exactly, it could be two hours or one day, but it was not so long,” he said of the time it took him to digest his Worlds disappointment.

“Sometimes you have to get out the thing that you have in your heart, to pass to something else. If you keep it to yourself, it gets you in the wrong way. So I just said what I was thinking and I was just thinking about what went wrong with the race.

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!

“It’s not about pressure,” he added. “It’s about what I want to achieve. Sometimes you feel like you are able to play for the win and sometimes you make mistakes that get you not where you want to be. Mistakes are part of the game. I will not say it’s because of pressure… It was a mistake. After that I just mentally switch and get to the next goal. Maybe I was a bit harsh on myself but it was just after the race… It doesn’t bother me.”

Seixas’ attitude is perhaps only a reflection of the scale of his ambition.

In his winner’s press conference on Saturday he spoke about the extent to which he has surprised himself this season and last: “It’s amazing to think in two years what I’ve achieved, it’s insane, if you told me that two years ago I would not believe you.”

What to read next

And yet, in some respects it’s absolutely not a surprise because these are exactly the standards he has set for himself. He’s not just taking all this as it comes but actively making it happen.

“I think there’s no natural destiny; you have to make your own destiny,” he said confidently. “Things don’t happen like magic. You have to work for it and I really work hard.”

Seixas soaking it all in at Lombardia (Image credit: Getty Images)

Likewise, Seixas refused to get drawn into comparing himself with other riders, in particular those who may or may not lay claim to being the second best rider in the world, behind the undisputed top dog Tadej Pogačar.

“Honestly I wouldn’t put myself on second behind Tadej. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose; it’s not one race that makes you better than the others.”

But he didn’t shy away from stating his ambition to become the best.

“Tadej is the best one, and of course it’s a motivation to see. I hope he’ll still make progress, because from my point of view it’s good for cycling because he makes everyone make progress, because he’s so strong that everyone needs to work harder to be stronger.

“It’s a great dream for me to one day really be able to compete against him. 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 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. If you don’t try you will never succeed.”

Seixas, an all-action, all-terrain, all-format star in the making, is very much cut from the same cloth as Pogačar, and the story of this season has arguably been his emergence as a rival and heir to the great Slovenian. There have been ups and downs throughout, but Il Lombardia rounded it off with the resounding message: Paul Seixas – propelled by mentality as much as physicality – is on his way to the very top.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for comprehensive race coverage of the UCI Gravel World Championships, alongside the final Monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Subscribers get unlimited access to exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.