“I want to be the best in the peloton” - Paul Seixas throws down Tadej Pogacar challenge after Il Lombardia triumph

Paul Seixas has made clear how high his ambitions now stretch after becoming the youngest winner in Il Lombardia history, with the 20-year-old openly targeting Tadej Pogacar and the position of best rider in the peloton.

The Decathlon CMA CGM leader capped a remarkable 2026 season with victory in Como, attacking on Civiglio and riding clear to claim the first Monument of his career. Pogacar was absent after winning the previous five editions, but Seixas still regards the Slovenian as the rider everyone else has to chase.

“Without Tadej, races aren’t the same. He is the best,” Seixas told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Thanks to him, next year I’ll improve even more, and that applies to everyone. With Pogacar, everyone has to work to become stronger. If you don’t try to beat him, you never will.”

Seixas has already spent much of this season racing Pogacar directly. He finished second to him at Strade Bianche and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, while winning La Fleche Wallonne in Pogacar’s absence before adding Lombardia to his palmares at the weekend.

Asked what happens when they meet again next season, Seixas stopped short of claiming he had already reached Pogacar’s level.

“I don’t want to compare myself with the best,” he said. “Sometimes they win, sometimes I win. That’s how sport works, and the good thing is that everyone can improve at any moment. Next year we’ll challenge each other and we’ll see. It would be a dream just to be able to fight with Pogacar.”

His longer-term target was more direct. “Yes, I want to be the best in the peloton.”

That comes after a season in which Seixas has won a Monument and La Fleche Wallonne, finished second at Strade Bianche and Liege-Bastogne-Liege and taken fourth overall on his Tour de France debut while still 19.

His rise has also made his future beyond Decathlon another talking point. Seixas is under contract through the end of 2027 and is already confirmed to remain with the French team next season, but UAE Team Emirates - XRG have publicly acknowledged their interest beyond that point.

Team manager Mauro Gianetti recently confirmed brief contact with Seixas’ agent and left little doubt that UAE would be interested if the opportunity arose.

“If he asks to come to us, I wouldn’t say no,” Gianetti said. “The impression is that he will not decide his future so soon. I have no idea whether he will come to us; that is difficult to say. The decision is his, not the team’s.”

For now, Seixas remains central to Decathlon’s plans and has given no indication that a decision over 2028 is imminent.

Seixas was more interested in the victory itself than the age record attached to it. “I don’t care about being the youngest,” he said. “I only care about winning, and this is a Monument, which means I’ll remember it forever. It’s crazy, for me and for my country. Eight years ago Thibaut Pinot won Il Lombardia. I watched him race and hoped I could get this far. Now I hope I can be an inspiration for French people. On a day like this, what more could I ask for?”

Even Seixas has been caught out by the speed of his own rise. “If you had told me at the start of the year what I would win this season, I would never have believed you,” he said. “And if I think back to two years ago, it doesn’t seem possible that I’ve come this far. The truth is that I always surprise myself as well.”

Asked for his next objective after a season that has taken him from Tour de France debutant to Monument winner, Seixas finally offered something less ambitious. “Holidays.”

The racing can wait. When Seixas returns in 2027, Pogacar will still be the benchmark he has openly said he wants to beat.