Pogacar-esque at 19! Paul Seixas matches Slovenian superstar’s European Championship climb in Ardèche solo

The decisive moment of the 2026 Faun-Ardeche Classic came, once again, on the Côte de Saint Romain de Lerps. That alone would not have been unusual. What happened on it was.

Paul Seixas covered the 6.9-kilometre climb at 7.2 per cent in 16 minutes and 28 seconds during his race-winning solo.

That is the exact same time recorded by Tadej Pogacar on the same ascent during his victorious ride at the 2025 European Championships.

Same climb. Same gradient. Same stopping of the watch.

Saint Romain de Lerps is not a decorative feature of this circuit. In 2025, it was the launchpad for Pogacar’s European title, the point where the race split and the strongest rider imposed himself. In 2026, it again served as the trigger, this time for a 19-year-old who sensed weakness beside him and committed.

When the early break was caught with 41 kilometres remaining in Ardèche, Seixas accelerated on this climb and immediately distanced Matteo Jorgenson. The attack began as a tactical read. The data now shows it was backed by elite-level climbing power.

Matching Pogacar’s benchmark on the same road gives that move a different weight.

The external comparison to Pogacar grabs attention. The internal comparison to Seixas’ own past performance is arguably more telling.

At the 2025 European Championships, on this exact climb, Seixas was 35 seconds slower than the time he recorded on Saturday. One winter later, he erased that gap entirely.

That is not marginal improvement. On a climb of this length and gradient, 35 seconds represents a substantial performance leap. It suggests not just better positioning or race dynamics, but a meaningful physiological progression.

Estimated figures from the ascent point to an average of 7.46 watts per kilogram.

Sustaining that level of output for over 16 minutes places the effort firmly in the range normally associated with established Grand Tour contenders in peak condition. For a rider aged 19 years and 157 days, it moves the performance beyond promising and into exceptional territory.

Context matters. This was not a fresh effort in the opening kilometres of a stage race. It came deep into a 188.5 kilometre one-day race with repeated climbs already in the legs, and it preceded a solo of more than 40 kilometres to the finish.

The climb did not win Seixas the race on its own. But it created the separation that allowed him to build a minute advantage and fracture the chase behind into multiple groups.

Matching Pogacar’s time on Saint Romain de Lerps does not make Seixas the Slovenian’s equal. It does, however, anchor his performance to a known elite benchmark on a climb that has already defined a major championship.

In 2025, Pogacar used that ascent to launch a long-range attack en route to European gold. In 2026, Seixas used it to drop one of the peloton’s most established names and ride to a commanding victory.

For now, the headline is simple: on the climb that crowned Pogacar, a 19-year-old matched the clock.

What comes next will determine whether this was a singular performance or the first clear data point of something much bigger.