"He shouldn't have raced Piemonte" - Nibali blames UAE directors for "wasting" Del Toro's energy prior to Lombardia
Cycling
After five long years, Il Lombardia has a new champion. And quite fittingly, it is the man deemed as Tadej Pogacar's successor by many; Paul Seixas. The Frenchman stayed in control the entire day, and then dropped his rivals with a relative ease when he decided it was time to bring down the curtain on the race.
There was only one asterisk to Seixas' run-up; the World Championships in Montréal. Seixas was one of the protagonists of the race alongside Isaac del Toro, but ultimately cramped out of the group of favourites during final lap, and finished 15th. But rather than dwell on what could've been, the failure seems to have motivated the Frenchman to leave no room for doubts as he reached his first Monument victory.
"He arrived at Il Lombardia in fantastic form after the World Championships. He had said himself that he was a bit disappointed, but in my opinion he put in a great performance in Canada too; I think he rode really well at the Worlds," Nibali told quibicisport about the French winner. "At 20 years old, you're allowed to make mistakes."
Masterclass performance
Seixas allowed rival teams to control much of the race, keeping his cards close. But when the decisive climb Civiglio came, Seixas made it quickly clear who is the strongest rider in the race.
"Seixas radiated great confidence; he attacked on the Civiglio climb from the very bottom to the top, only getting out of the saddle once - so it shows he’s very sure of himself. He set his own pace, went solo, and then claimed this very prestigious victory - becoming the youngest winner in the history of Il Lombardia since [Giovanni] Gerbi in 1905. So, this is what a changing cycling landscape looks like," the winner of 2015 and 2017 editions sighs.
Evenepoel returned to his Montréal shadow
While Seixas shined, not all of his pre-race rivals have had as good of a day. Remco Evenepoel put his teammates to work with seemingly confidence, but when push came to shove, he was on the shorter end of the rope, fighting merely to survive rather than place a decisive attack himself. In the end, he still sprinted to a solid result, but was way too far from a victory.
"We probably all expected a little bit more from him, but he still finished fourth," Nibali assesses. "It’s understandable that he wasn't at 100% today; after all, he won the European Championship - beating Giulio Ciccone, among others - just a week ago."
Remco Evenepoel in action at Il Lombardia 2026
Ciccone wraps up amazing autumn
Evenepoel's rival made quite the contrary showing. He was the last rider to try and follow Paul Seixas, and although a strong Enric Mas eventually caught up and passed the Italian, he still concluded a strong autumn with a podium finish.
"Giulio hadn't fully recovered from his efforts at the European Championships, yet he still put in a fantastic performance," Nibali points out. "Perhaps the surprise - if you could call it that - was Mas; we hadn't really seen him since the Vuelta, but he delivered a great performance here at Lombardia."
Read also
Pogacar's successor... not yet
A lot of attention prior to the race remained with UAE Team Emirates - XRG team bus - even in the absence of Tadej Pogacar. Besides world champion Brandon McNulty making an appearance (and a strong one - he finished 5th!), Isaac del Toro was touted as a top-3 favourite. However the Mexican struggled, and eventually had to give up his winning ambitions with what seemed a knee pain.
"Maybe racing the Gran Piemonte - just two days before Il Lombardia - wasn't the best choice; he probably wasn't at 100% today. Plus, he was dealing with a lingering knee issue," Nibali adds, noting that he is not afraid that this should be a cause of concern for Del Toro into future.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- I remember at one time he was mentioned in the same breath as Seixas. no more. Onley has a lot of work to do to be deserving of that.mij12-10-2026
- I hope he goes to Bahrain-Victorious to mentor Jakob
Rafionain-Glas12-10-2026 - I hope he stays! Cycling is more fun with Primoz, even if he is not winning.mij12-10-2026
- yes for sure, there will be more chances for him at Euro than Lombardia. I wonder if that emotion wasn't also because he knows he has now been eclipsed by a younger rider w/o his goals being checked off. At least when Seixas over takes Tadej someday, Tadej will have accomplished his major goals. He still has Roubaix left, but Seixas isn't a threat there. And he should find a year to get Vuelta. Remco now is behind at least 2 riders w/o ever having won a Tour, one monument to his name, and the next few World Championships are not Remco friendly. I would still take Remco's wins though!!!mij12-10-2026
- Remco was at 100%. He raced as expected: 15th best on the climbs and then best in the sprint of the chasing group. Exactly what he did at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he was on similar form. His win in Amstel was comparable to Quebec or the EurosRafionain-Glas12-10-2026
- "inside the tent pissing out" is an idiom based on a quote from President Lyndon Johnson. Not sure if you're saying you don't understand the term. The full phrase is "it's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in."wrsty12-10-2026
- Pissing out?? Who is forcing them? They can follow Ayuso's example. And they can be leaders on another team. Ayuso's example again. :)MajorPayne12-10-2026
- Hmm it's an interesting take with certain disclaimers e.g. comparing them at the same age (Pogi wasn't given chances so early in his career so we will never know), the level of the competitors in the race or tour (really hard to compare, as you would be looking at multiple competitors, let alone comparing just Seixas vs Pogi). In any case, Seixas' future certainly looks very bright, especially as he has the advantage of youth, access to new scientific knowledge/methods that weren't around when Pogi started, and most importantly has Pogi as an extremely good example to aspire to (e.g. copying training methods, nutrition, tactics, race craft, etc., to list just a few...).Pogboom12-10-2026
- > He’s so much better than Pogacar was at 20 years old It does not mean NOTHING. What is important how long you can be at the top. Most of the best riders are (really) good for 4-5 years (Alaphilippe, Sagan), of course outside this window you can win stages etc. but forget about GC winner in main tours. Talents like Pogacar (in case of GC) or MvdP (monuments or CX - 15 years being on top!!!) are rarity. It might be that if you start being good fast, you end up being good still young.averagecyclist12-10-2026
- Winning Il Lombardia would surely mean much more to Remco than to Seixas, after his crash there and then second places where he was far ahead of the rest but still far behind Pog, and had to blink away tears at the finish. Wonder if he will ever have such a good chance again.Hills3312-10-2026
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