Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) soared to the first victory of his immensely-promising young career on Thursday, triumphing atop the Alto da Foia on stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve.
The 19-year-old Frenchman, winner of last year’s Tour de l’Avenir, is one the latest teenaged mega-talents and he made a breakthrough here with a stunning performance that will only increase the hype surrounding his name.
Seixas outpaced a high-class group of five riders at the summit of the climb, denying Juan Ayuso a first win in a Lidl-Trek jersey by the tightest of margins, with João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) trailing for the final spot on the podium.
Those three had emerged as the strongest when the lead group finally exploded 4km from the summit of the Volta’s most famous climb, and it was Seixas who dominated the pace-setting, with Almeida yo-yoing off the back. Seixas’ teammate Matthew Riccitello and Ineos Grenadiers’ new signing Oscar Onley came across for the final couple of kilometres but were powerless when Almeida, appearing to have a second wind, launched a volley of accelerations inside the final 1500 metres.
“It’s perfect. For the moment the first goal is already achieved – win a race, and I won today it’s so amazing,” Seixas said.
“I just started to follow at first then tried to make big rhythm but Juan Ayuso and João Almeida wouldn’t cooperate with me, or not a lot. I was afraid we’d be caught by some riders, but in the end it was only two and one was my teammate so I was happy.
“João attacked a lot but I knew had to wait for my moment. I did a good sprint, even if I was a bit lost with all the corners in the end, and it was way too big but I managed to take it so I’m really happy for me and the team.”
Seixas won the stage but did not move into the overall lead of the race, with Ayuso helping himself to enough bonus seconds earlier in the stage to pull on the yellow jersey. The Spaniard claimed four seconds amid the tightly-packed ‘hotspot’ sprints, and another six for his runner-up finish.
Given Seixas scored a round 10 for his stage win, they were tied for time, and the jersey was given to Ayuso based on his superior stage placings across the two days so far.
Almeida is third overall at seven seconds, with Onley fourth at 14 seconds, and Riccitello fifth at 16 seconds. Daní Martinez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) came in 32 seconds down, a few seconds clear of a group featuring Kévin Vauquelin (Ineos Grenadiers), Alessandro Pinarello (NSN Cycling), and Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling).
How it unfolded
After the opening day’s sprint finish, stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve sparked the start of the general classification battle, with a 147.2km route from Portimao leading to the summit of Fóia, a familiar climb but today tackled from a new side.
The early breakaway was made up of eight riders from lower-level teams: Tomas Contte, Gorka Sorarrain, Enzo Leijnse, Iker Bonillo Martin, Nicolas Tivani, Leangel Linare, Hugo Nunes, and Alexandre Montez.
Bonillo Martin was first at the intermediate sprint at Paderne after 35km, shortly before the KOM jersey wearer Contte skipped to the top of the category 3 Picota climb to extend his lead in the mountains classification.
The middle part of the stage was a quiet affair, with Lidl-Trek and Ineos Grenadiers helping to police the peloton nd keep the gap around the modest mark of two minutes.
The category 3 Alferce climb – 4.3km at 6.1% and topping out with just under 50km to go – saw the race start to come to life. The breakaway reduced to just five riders, with Sorarrain, Linare, and Montez all dropped before Contte helped himself to yet more points at the top.
A descent saw Ineos Grenadiers increase the pace through Filippo Ganna and they actually brought the break back to within around 10 seconds, but they eased off again and allowed it to grow back out to a minute.
The next test was the category 3 Casais, topping out 17km from home and preceding the summit finish. Tivani, Leijnse, and Nunes were dropped in turn from the break, leaving Contte with just Sorarrain to beat for another helping of points, which he did. Job done for the day, he effectively came to a stop and soon the race was all back together ahead of the Alto da Foia (8.9km at 6.3%).
Before the road tilted uphill, there was the small matter of the two bonus sprints in the so-called ‘hot spot’ – a new feature for the race. Juan Ayuso won one and grabbed a point in another, which turned out to be a wise move that would net him the yellow jersey.
Ayuso’s Lidl-Trek teammates dominated the lower slopes of the climb and remarkably there were still 25 riders in the mix until the 4km-to-go mark, where a small crash sparked the riders into life just as the climb was entering its steepest section. Ayuso hit out and was followed by Seixas and Almeida, with no one else able to follow initially.
Seixas soon took over despite shouldering almost the entire workload on the front, managed to drop Almeida on a couple of occasions. Ayuso came through to the front just inside 2km to go, but he wasn’t pushing as hard as Seixas, which allowed Onley and Riccitello, the closest chasers, to close the gap and make it a group of five for the gentler slopes at the top of Fóia.
A resurgent Almeida suddenly dominated the run-in, launching three huge accelerations. The outcome was the same each time: Onley lost the wheel, Riccitello was further distanced, but Ayuso and Seixas were right on the case. Things eased and came back together after each acceleration, until Seixas punched his way to the front with a couple of hundred metres to go.
Ayuso set after him but the young Frenchman held his speed and his nerve through the tight chicanes to truly announce himself as cycling’s next big thing.
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