“He’s so much better than Pogacar was at 20 years old” - Bruyneel, Hincapie and Martin heap praise on Paul Seixas after Il Lombardia
Cycling
Paul Seixas' victory at Il Lombardia has taken the comparisons with Tadej Pogacar to another level, with Johan Bruyneel, George Hincapie and Spencer Martin arguing that the Frenchman has already built a superior one-day record to the Slovenian at the same age.
Seixas became the youngest winner in Il Lombardia history on Saturday, riding clear on Civiglio and finishing 48 seconds ahead of Enric Mas in Como. It added a first Monument victory to a 2026 season in which he has already finished second at Strade Bianche and Liege-Bastogne-Liege and won La Fleche Wallonne.
Speaking on The Move podcast, Bruyneel ran through the results that have put Seixas in that company. “He starts off the season, he gets second in Strade Bianche, behind Pogacar,” said Bruyneel. “Then the next one, Pogacar's not there, Fleche Wallonne, he wins. Three days after, Pogacar's there, second to Pogacar. And now the other Monument that Pogacar's not there, he wins.”
Bruyneel did not need the rest of Seixas' season to make his point. “It's pretty impressive, man,” he continued. “I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting other one-day races, but just to name those four, that's like, okay, you can basically hang your whole career on those results.”
Paul Seixas crosses the line at Il Lombardia 2026
“It's not even a competition”
Hincapie then raised the age-for-age comparison directly. “You can almost say that might be even better than Pogacar at 20 years old,” he suggested.
Martin's response was immediate. “Oh, it's not even a competition,” before he went further still: “He's so much better than Pogacar was in one-day racing at 20 years old.”
The four races highlighted by Bruyneel are not the full picture either. Seixas also finished second at the GP de Montreal in September, losing out to Isaac del Toro after helping to break apart the favourites on the final ascent of Camillien-Houde.
By the time he arrived in Lombardia, Seixas had already accumulated major one-day results across the spring and autumn against several of the strongest riders in the world. The win in Como was the first time that run had produced a Monument victory.
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And then there is the Tour
What makes Seixas' season harder to judge purely through the Classics is everything he has done between them. He won the Itzulia Basque Country overall in April, taking three stages along the way, after already winning a stage and finishing second overall at the Volta ao Algarve earlier in the year.
Then, still only 19, he finished fourth overall on his Tour de France debut and became the youngest rider ever to finish inside the race's top five. Martin brought that result back into the discussion. “And then Johan, in the middle of all that, he gets fourth in the Tour de France.”
Lombardia has now given Seixas his first Monument victory to go alongside that Tour de France top five, with the Frenchman only having celebrated his 20th birthday in September.
Pogacar had not yet won a Monument at that age. Seixas already has one.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- 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
- Yeah him, Del Toro for sure - not that they all pan out, but then how can you tell what someone was going to be capable of if they never got to be an out-and-out leader? Either way, their squad has a lot of riders who could be leaders at other teams but they are safely inside the tent now, pissing out.wrsty12-10-2026
- "removing any barriers to their golden goose" What barriers? Ayuso maybe? :) :) :)MajorPayne12-10-2026
- And let's not forget, Tadej Pogačar won his first Tour de France eating pizza, drinking beer and playing Playstation. This kept goinig on for another two years and when he lost the Tour 2X to Jonas, things dramaticaly changed. Today Pogi is a "killing machine." In 2024, in the Tours rest day, Pogi said: "If I compare the year 2019 to what we're doing today, we were real amatuers." ... That is the difference between Pogi and Seixas. Seixas immediately got professional help and advice, he knows exactly what he wants and is already at a very high level. So, the paths of Pogi and Seixas weren't the same.PogiSloFans12-10-2026
- Paul Seixas took off from the WC to Lombardia - smart move it seems. Although Remco at least got the Euro jersey.mij12-10-2026
- Why on EARTH would a rider capable of leading races, leading an entire squad in any race he wishes to go and be (yet another) second fiddle rider to his main competition? Especially when his career is in the ascendant, holding the hope of a nation. You want to be the best - then you want to race against the best. I wish UAE as a team all the best for the most part, but I really dislike their approach of removing any barriers to their golden goose by warehousing them on their squad until they get sufficiently bored and/or pissed off and leave.wrsty12-10-2026
- the manner of victory is not Pogi since 2024, Pogi is 50+ k attack, this was last hill/mountain attack, the std attack.abstractengineer12-10-2026
- Hell No!!!abstractengineer12-10-2026
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