Six days after Paul Seixas turned in a stunning ride into a bronze medal in the Road European Championships, the 19-year-old Frenchman is set to make his debut in Il Lombardia.
The odds of Seixas outpowering either top favourites Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) or Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep - the riders who beat him last weekend in the Drôme-Ardèche in the European Championships - during Saturday's lengthy trek through the hills of northern Italy are logically remote. But for one former French winner of the Race of the Falling Leaves, at least, Seixas is already riding as brilliantly as Remco and Pogačar were at the same point in their respective careers.
"In my opinion, we haven't seen a phenomenon like him since Pogačar and Evenepoel," former French great Thibaut Pinot told L'Équipe on Friday, "And certainly amongst those who've come straight out of junior racing.
"He's maybe even stronger than Pogačar was at his age. He (Pogačar) didn't turn pro straight after being a junior and it's true that in his first season, he got third in the [2019] Vuelta a España and won three stages. But he was also two years older [21-Ed.] than Seixas when he did that.
"So you could consider Seixas to be ahead of him [for his age], while Remco had already won his first pro races, notably the Clásica San Sebastian [at 19].
"So broadly speaking, there it is: he's somewhere between Remco and Pogačar at the same age."
Pinot retired two years ago at Il Lombardia, and it's seven years since he dropped defending champion Vincenzo Nibali on the Civiglio climb to blaze away to the one Monument victory of his career. Given his strong emotional connection to the race, it'd be no surprise if he were watching closely to see what Seixas can achieve on the same terrain on Saturday.
Some things have already impressed Pinot about Seixas, he told the newspaper, like his consistency throughout the season, and how well he managed his performance and strength throughout in the Europeans, too.
"When you're young, normally you try to follow for as long as possible, then you blow, and it's over. But he showed how mature he was, particularly as the Championships were in France and he could have been even more over-enthusiastic [on home soil] and paid the price by blowing up.
"But he didn't do that. On the contrary he managed to drop [Christian] Scaroni (Italy) - to finish with bronze."
Pinot fully expects Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale to put Seixas in the Tour de France next year - "If he's the best in his team, why wouldn't they?" he asked rhetorically. But he warned that the weight of expectations, which will be increasingly high assuming Seixas continues to perform so brilliantly, could prove to be a risk in the years to come. All in all, though, Pinot said he was delighted to see a new top French performer emerge in the peloton.
"For sure I am," he concluded. "That said, what he's doing right now is - in inverted commas - like a bonus round, it's almost easy.
"The tough part will be confirming that high standard, one season after another. It's always tough to do better each year. So the hardest part is yet to come, unfortunately. Above all [when racing] in France."
