Paul Seixas dropped the competition in Itzulia, but actually "after two or three minutes I regretted it"

Itzulia Basque Country has become the Paul Seixas show. After dominating the first stage's time trial, the youngest rider in the race went on to take an equally dominating victory on stage 2, attacking the day's most difficult climb and putting in an extensive gap over all of his competitors.

The stage was difficult, and the Frenchman was responding to attacks right at the start of the day. What looked to be overconfidence turned out to be having the best legs on a day that could be important for the overall classification. Despite being in the race lead, Decathlon had an attack on the drawing board in the bus this morning, although Seixas prematurely put the plan into action.

"It was the plan today, but it was perhaps a bit ambitious to attack so early. Maybe I went a bit earlier than I wanted, but I just felt it," Seixas said in a post-race interview. "After two or three minutes I regretted it, but I had no choice".

However the Frenchman's wording is to be taken with a grain of salt, as his attack quickly began yielding results. He got a gap over all other favourites in the race and then also benefited from their own battle later on. By the time he got to the summit of the climb he had almost a minute of lead, but over the descent and the final hilly kilometers where on paper he would lose time, he actually put another 30 seconds into them.

A Pogacar-esque performance. "So I kept pushing until the finish. The plan was to go alone if possible, and otherwise to go with two others. Today my legs were good and the teamwork was good too. All my men did so much work. Riding at the front and working all day... it gives that extra strength".

There is no doubt that Seixas is the strongest man in the race at the moment. Riders like Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso did not look at their best, whilst Florian Lipowitz looked caught up with several riders following him. This certainly boosts the dramatic margin that Seixas now has over his closest rival, but it also means his biggest challenger will be himself.

"The general classification is far from over. Not until the last day,' Seixas said, not wanting to get ahead of himself. Now that I know I have the level to win here and I also have a lead. Now we are going to manage that, but it is tough every day. We still have four days to go and they aren't getting any easier.'

"Today I felt good and well, I don't know... it was one of those days where you just don't know exactly how you're doing". Asked if he could win all stages in the Basque race, he responded: "I don't think so. I think tomorrow, for example, [the stage] will be a bit easier.'

On the climb to San Miguel de Aralar, Seixas is the new record holder, something which he was questioned about after the finish: "I think cycling continues to evolve. Many things have changed and we also eat more on the bike. That makes a difference. So things have changed and I think more experienced riders would say that too".