Paul Seixas has become the youngest winner in Il Lombardia history at just 20 years old after blowing the race apart on Civiglio and riding alone into Como for the first Monument victory of his career. The Decathlon CMA CGM rider finished 48 seconds clear of Enric Mas, with Giulio Ciccone third at 1...

A week in, the 2026 Arkansas High Country Race continues to deliver exciting stories from the field. With the men's podium set, Michelle Roth closing in on a potential women's FKT, and riders battling relentless heat and rugged terrain across the Ozarks and Ouachitas, plenty of racing remains. Catch up on the latest in this home-cooked update from ArkansasThe post Grit, Guts, and Heat: A Week of the 2026 Arkansas High Country Race appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

After a gradual, seated acceleration Paul Seixas rises up on the pedals to go clear on the Civiglio climb. This was the moment Il Lombardia was won.Events began with the peloton making a row of honour to pay tribute to Bauke Mollema, Rudy Molard, Ion Izagirre, Odd Christian Eiking and Pello Bilbao, all starting the last race of their careers. No sign of Primo Rogli who looks set for another season. Then a five minute protest by the peloton as riders stayed put on the start line. Remco Evenepoels appeal on the microphone about rider deaths and vehicles on race route was more aimed at race organisers, he spoke in English and got a ripple of applause from the Bergamo crowd. Only in a press release organisers RCS wrote the riders came togethter to send an important message, stopping for five minutes to urge all road users to behave responsibly and show mutual respect, both during races and in everyday life, a rhetorical gap hat points to the difficulties for the sport to advance collectively.A group of 30 was away on the early slopes of the Selvino climb but this was too much for UAE and Decathlon who chased it down. A counter move launched by Uno-Xs Johannes Kulset worked instead, 12 riders and then 14 when two more bridged across. Once upon a time, not long ago actually, the early break would be allowed to build up time and those away might know they were only free for a few hours but they could enjoy the liberty. Here the 14 looked in agony from the start, backs hunched low as they made forceful pedal strokes, struggling to take even two minutes as they crested the early climbs, sometimes shrouded in mist.Racing to the foot of the Ghisallo climb, the sun was coming out. Out of sight RAI TV reported Enric Mas had stopped in a tunnel because of un problemo la Dumoulin, a label the Giro and Worlds TT winner cant, ahem, drop. Mass stomach problems sounded ruinous for the day but hed bounce back.Giulio Pellizzari set a fast pace up the Ghisallo climb but was overtaken by an attack from Visma-LAB as Matteo Jorgenson went clear, taking Quinn Simmons, Brandon McNulty and Christian Scaroni clear. It was exciting to see the Ghisallo play a role but the quartet struggled both to take 15 seconds on what was left of the peloton, and too close in on the breakaway. Having a UAE rider in McNulty meant one less team to chase but Decathlon and Red Bull got the better of them, perhaps in part because McNulty could mark the move too. The world champion was sporting white shorts and itll take time to stop seeing him as some kind of body-double for Tadej Pogaar, even if his lively presence today means hes no impostor.As the race reached Como the riders cast long shadows and the photogenic golden hour started early. The early breakaway was down to six riders but still had 1m30s for the first time up the San Fermo climb. Pellizzari led the chasers up the climb, this time all the leaders were close by with Paul Seixas, Remco Evenepoel, Giulio Ciccone, Tom Pidcock, Isaac Del Toro and Brandon McNulty just where they wanted to be.The breakaway split going up the Civiglio climb with Michael Leonard holding out the longest. Seixas has been labelled a diesel for his way of riding, but on the Civilgio it was as if he was running on bunker fuel. He hit the front but was it an attack? It was almost like watching a container ship leave port, his seated acceleration was barely perceptible on TV. Only his rivals soon felt it, McNulty was on his wheel and started to shake his head, a tell for his agony. It was only a full minute later that Seixas rose up on the pedals. This shook off McNulty and Del Toro. Tom Pidcock moved onto the Frenchmans wheel, churning a big gear and bobbing to hold on. Another full minute later Seixas stood up again and only Pidcock and Mas could follow with Mas a few metres back. Another minute later and Seixas was clear. Pidcock cracked and Ciccone rotated his head in strigiform manner to observe Mas behind him rather concern himself with Seixas.Ciccone and Mas were left as chasers while the group behind saw several pre-race picks in trouble. Pidcock said he paid for trying to follow Seixass pace, Isaac del Toro didnt have it and the beefy Evenepoel hypothesis from the preview held up.Seixas was away but there wasnt the sense of inevitability. This will come to us the more he does repeats these feats but for now his 20 second lead was only one bad trajectory from coming undone, one exuberant loss of concentration; and given his cramp in the Montreal Worlds, could his legs seize up on the final climb of the San Fermo? He kept it all under control and extended his lead for 48 seconds on Mas who had dropped Ciccone on the San Fermo climb.The VerdictMore suspense but not a lot more sport. The absence of Pogaar opened up the list of contenders but the race was ridden in the same format with a relentless pace from the start, and 1.5km/h faster than the similar course used in 2022. Matteo Jorgensons Ghisallo attack added spice but was a short story mid-race rather than a chapter that led to anything new. It came down to shoot-out on the steepest part of the hardest climb and one rider was clearly superior to all the rest. Seixas even set the record up the Civiglio, taking more than 30 seconds off Pogaars best.Enric Mas is the runner-up again after 2022, impressive when he could have started on the sangria and croquetas following his Vuelta win. Giulio Ciccone seems to improve with age, often an artist on the bike who has frustrated managers for he is proving more able to guide himself to results.Seixas becomes the youngest ever winner of Lombardia, pipping Giovanni Gerbi who was also 20 when he won the inaugural edition in 1905. The anecdote is worthy, even if it tells us as much about the structure of pro cycling today as it does Seixas, but the context is more remarkable. He started winning in February, won stage races and spring classics in April, crashed out of the Dauphine Aura Tour, finished fourth in the Tour, then aimed for the Canadian races in September and now rides the field off his wheel in October. Beaucoup as they say in France but hes still below 50 days of racing this year. Its also Decathlons first Monument win, topping second places from Alberto Elli in the 1998 Sanremo, Silvan Dilliers second place in the 2018 Paris-Roubaix and Seixass own second place in Lige this year.For Seixas its a personal triumph. The public self-flagellation following his ride at the Worlds was notable to the point of excessive but he clearly nurtured the sentiment for two weeks as a source of motivation and determination during the past two weeks and was able to deliver on it. Pleasingly though Lombardia was about more than making amends. He took pleasure in his post-race interview, saying the 10 year old Paul Seixas would not believe what would happen, and that the whole season was a dream for me. Which races will he think about over winter?The post The Moment Il Lombardia Was Won first appeared on The Inner Ring.

Pello Bilbao has brought down the curtain on his professional career with a remarkable seventh-place finish at Il Lombardia, staying with the front group deep into his final race before signing off in Como. The 36-year-old, a three-time Grand Tour stage winner, remained in contention long after many...

Tom Pidcock could do little more than acknowledge the strength of Paul Seixas after the 20-year-old rode him off the wheel on the Civiglio en route to a historic victory at Il Lombardia. Pidcock had been one of the few riders initially able to stay close when Seixas lifted the pace on the decisive c...

Paul Seixas has won Il Lombardia 2026, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the Monument after destroying the favourites with a spectacular attack on the Civiglio. The 20-year-old Frenchman rode clear on the steepest climb of the final circuit around Como and never looked back, first putti...

Paul Seixas had already picked out where he wanted to make his move on Civiglio before Il Lombardia even started, with Decathlon CMA CGM sports director Julien Jurdie revealing how little instruction the 20-year-old needed ahead of his historic victory in Como. Seixas became the youngest winner in I...