Itzulia Basque Country: Paul Seixas pours on the power to win individual time trial opener and claim leader's jersey

Talented young French rider Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) took another gigantic step towards the uppermost levels of the sport with a knock-out victory in the opening time trial stage of the 2026 Itzulia Basque Country.

One of the earliest starters on a very hilly 13.8-kilometre course through Bilbao, Seixas clinched the first WorldTour victory and the first time trial win of his incipient career with a jaw-dropping 23-second margin on Kévin Vauquelin (Ineos Grenadiers) and a 27-second gap on Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

While former double overall winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was a promising fourth, 28 seconds back, the Frenchman took a considerable margin over two key contenders, Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), who lost 1:16 and almost all hope of repeating his 2024 GC victory in a considerably below-expectations TT. Meanwhile, the man with two week-long WorldTour stage wins this spring, Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was almost equally disappointing 51 seconds back.

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"It was perfectly planned, I think I did the right pacing, the team were really good, we were well-prepared and today all this work paid off," Seixas said afterwards.

Having claimed a far greater advantage than expected on such a short course, clocking the fastest time on the early ascent of Santo Domingo and again just before the brutally short, steep uphill to the finish, Seixas now goes into the remainder of the race as the rider to beat.

Later on in the day, he said, the conditions had changed on the course: "The wind was a bit stronger, not [to gain] all the 23 seconds. But in a time trial, seconds are precious and to get a win is already perfect, and with this gap it's just amazing.

"The work paid today. I'm just so happy I've got this gap, it makes me confident about the win. Now I have to wear the [leader's] jersey and I am the [overall] favourite, now, but it's a pity it's only the start of the race and anything can happen, so we have to be careful."

How it unfolded

The 17th rider of 154 down the TT ramp on a warm afternoon in Bilbao, Roglič, given his track record of Itzulia victories, was all but bound to become the main early reference point, setting a time of 17:32 that was clearly ahead of the first starters.

However, Seixas was clearly in stunning form, quickly knocking 10 seconds off Roglič's time at the summit of Santo Domingo and shooting past minute-man Lorenzo Quartucci (Burgos Burpellet BH) on the long, sweeping descent at speeds touching 80 kph.

Come the final drag to the finish, there might have been some questions about whether Seixas had misjudged his energy outlay. Far from it: instead two-minute man Unai Iribar (Kern Pharma) could only look on aghast as Seixas flew past in the last 200 metres, the French rider roaring home with a time 28 seconds faster than Roglič.

Nearly two decades younger than the Slovenian Champion and just two years after Roglič's last Itzulia TT win, the new generation of stars had truly arrived in the Basque Country with a vengeance.

As the wind began to blow harder, possibly affecting those later starters with a headwind in the finale, for a good hour nobody came anywhere near Seixas time-wise.

That said, Großschartner managed to edge ahead of Roglič, just a second ahead of the Slovenian, while Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep) finished just a second behind. The combination of the early climb of Santo Domingo and a final 500 metres with ramps of 19%, was viciously difficult to calculate, particularly with the increasingly windy conditions. Even a specialist like Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), well inside the top 10 best-placed on the early part of the course, was unable to get it completely right, nearly misjudging a couple of late corners and finishing 15 seconds down on Roglič.

Vauquelin came home 23 seconds down on Seixas, a very impressive time, but given the shortness of the TT at just 13 kilometres, there was still a real time chasm between his 19-year-old compatriot and the rest of the world.

Of the late starters, the real interest then centred in what Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) could achieve, blasting out of the gate but losing a huge amount of time, 23 seconds, by the top of the Santo Domingo climb. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) was closer, 14 seconds down, but still out of the running.

Ayuso then missed out completely on a turn, all but coming off the course at one point, but fought back bravely to try and stay in contention. However, it was too little too late, and the big local hope for the GC battle had to settle for 38th, 1:16 back.

The last rider off, local Basque racer Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) drew by far the bigger cheers from the fans lining the route in increasing numbers. But by then the race was all over bar the shouting, with Seixas well-established to battle for the first overall victory in the 2026 Itzulia Basque Country.

Stage 2 is the first major climbing test of many in this year's Itzulia Basque Country, running from Pamplona to Lekunberri and with the ultra-difficult Cat. 1 San Miguel de Aralar immediately preceding a long descent and short kick up to the finish. To go by the early evidence, though, and despite his lack of experience, Seixas will prove very hard to dislodge from the top spot overall.

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