Results Il Lombardia 2026 - History made as 20-year-old Paul Seixas becomes youngest ever winner with devastating Civiglio attack
Cycling
Paul Seixas has won Il Lombardia 2026, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the Monument after destroying the favourites with a spectacular attack on the Civiglio.
The 20-year-old Frenchman rode clear on the steepest climb of the final circuit around Como and never looked back, first putting Remco Evenepoel and Isaac del Toro into difficulty before eventually riding Tom Pidcock and Giulio Ciccone off his wheel as well. Enric Mas produced a superb late ride to climb through the race and take second, with Ciccone completing the podium in third.
For a race that had spent much of the afternoon waiting for one of its favourites to take control, the change was brutal once it came. UAE Team Emirates-XRG arrived at the foot of the Civiglio with Adam Yates and Brandon McNulty still positioned around Del Toro, while Giulio Pellizzari had spent much of the preceding hour working for Evenepoel. Seixas allowed neither team to dictate the decisive moment.
His acceleration immediately broke apart a group that had still contained most of the headline contenders. Evenepoel could not respond and was forced to settle into his own rhythm, Del Toro began slipping backwards despite UAE's numerical strength, and only Pidcock and Ciccone were initially able to stay with the Frenchman.
They did not last much longer. Seixas continued driving the pace all the way up the Civiglio, gradually squeezing Pidcock off the wheel before Ciccone also conceded. By the summit, Mas had climbed his way back into the race to join the Italian in pursuit, but Seixas already had around half a minute in hand and was committed to the descent towards the final San Fermo della Battaglia.
O'Connor keeps a strong break fighting deep into Lombardia
The decisive attack came late in a race that had taken its time to settle after an aggressive opening out of Bergamo. Fourteen riders eventually established the main breakaway, with Ben O'Connor joined by Antonio Tiberi, Victor Campenaerts, George Bennett, Fausto Masnada, Sylvain Moniquet, Louis Vervaeke, Julien Bernard, Michael Leonard, Gijs Leemreize, Pau Marti, Maxime Decomble, Andrea Mifsud and Johannes Kulset.
They were allowed a little more than three minutes at their furthest point, although the presence of several teams with genuine victory ambitions ensured the gap never became unmanageable. Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, UAE, Decathlon CMA CGM and Pinarello Q36.5 all spent time controlling for Evenepoel, Del Toro, Seixas and Pidcock.
O'Connor did more than anyone to give the move a chance of surviving into the decisive phase. Once the road steepened on the Giovenzana he repeatedly lifted the pace, splitting the break before doing the same again on the Madonna del Ghisallo.
Tiberi was among those dropped as the escape began to fracture, while O'Connor, Leonard and Leemreize spent time at the front before several riders clawed their way back.
The Ghisallo also produced the first real move from the favourites. Matteo Jorgenson attacked after being launched by Louis Barré, drawing Quinn Simmons, McNulty and Christian Scaroni clear and forcing Red Bull-BORA to react.
Pellizzari took up much of the chase for Evenepoel, with Primož Roglič later joining him, while Nicolas Prodhomme also contributed for Seixas. The quartet was caught on the run towards Como, but the effort had begun to use up some of the support around the leading contenders.
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Seixas turns Civiglio into a one-rider race
Pellizzari continued setting the pace through the first ascent of San Fermo della Battaglia, where the favourites' group began to thin without any of the biggest names committing to an attack. Roglič, Jorgenson and Lenny Martinez were among those distanced as six survivors from the original break carried an advantage of around 45 seconds through the first passage of the finish.
That gap disappeared rapidly on Civiglio. UAE took over as Pellizzari finally peeled away, with Yates and McNulty moving forward for Del Toro, but Seixas struck before the Mexican could use them. His acceleration swept up the remaining escapees and immediately forced Evenepoel onto the defensive.
Pidcock and Ciccone initially matched the pace as the rest scattered behind. Del Toro was unable to stay with them, while Evenepoel began working his way through a fragmented chase after losing ground in the first acceleration. Seixas simply kept climbing faster.
Pidcock eventually slipped away, leaving Ciccone as the last rider attempting to stay in contact before he too lost the wheel. Mas, having ridden much of the Civiglio at his own pace, passed Pidcock and reached Ciccone shortly before the summit.
Seixas crested with roughly half a minute to defend and took enough risks on the descent to prevent the chase from closing significantly. Ciccone and Mas briefly clawed back a few seconds, but the Frenchman remained clear as the road tilted upwards for the final time.
The San Fermo settled both the victory and the order behind him. Seixas extended his advantage again, while Mas finally attacked Ciccone and rode away to secure second place. Ciccone was left to defend third from the fragmented chase behind as Pidcock tried unsuccessfully to work his way back towards the podium.
Seixas crossed the top of the final climb with close to 50 seconds in hand and descended into Como with enough of a margin to enjoy the final kilometre.
At just 20 years old, he becomes the youngest Il Lombardia winner in history and gives Decathlon CMA CGM its first Monument victory, ending the five-year run of Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG with a win that announced Seixas as far more than cycling's next great prospect.
Data powered by FirstCycling.com
Carlos Silva is a writer for CyclingUpToDate.com, where he contributes race reports, interviews, analysis pieces, and live coverage of the international cycling calendar. Holding a degree in Sports from the Jean Piaget Institute, he combines academic knowledge of performance, training, and competition with hands-on journalism experience in professional cycling.
Throughout his career, Carlos has conducted interviews with leading figures in the sport, including Alberto Contador, Joaquim Rodríguez, Óscar Pereiro, João Almeida, Isaac del Toro, Derek Gee, John Degenkolb and Geraint Thomas. These conversations reflect direct engagement with Grand Tour winners, Classics specialists, and emerging talents.
He has provided on-site coverage at major events ranging from the Vuelta a España to the Tour de France, alongside stage races such as Vuelta a Andalucía, Volta ao Algarve, Volta a Portugal and O Gran Camiño. Covering the mythical climbs of the Giro d'Italia remains one of his professional ambitions.
Carlos is responsible for liveblog coverage of all major WorldTour races and beyond, including the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España. His reporting integrates verified data from ProCyclingStats to ensure statistical accuracy, contextual depth, and analytical precision.
A lifelong cycling enthusiast, he approaches storytelling across written, photographic, and video formats with a focus on credibility, tactical insight, and informed race interpretation.
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- At 20, Evenepoel was already amazing, Pogačar was getting started, and many others have been hailed as the next great. Seixas seems to actually have the goods - to win so young, with such skill, and so little of a career? I hope he can continue in whatever flavor he finds - Pogačar the grand tour rider who seems to enjoy the frantic classics more, Evenepoel the completist TT and RR championship rider, and so on. Seixas seems like a grand tour climber and Liége/Lombardia kind of guy, but that’s how Pogačar started off as well. This is such fun to watch, it’s a good time to be a fan of cycling.RidesHills11-10-2026
- He really does seem to have the racing intelligence of someone who’s been around much longer.Jumpyjohn11-10-2026
- I watched Il Lombardia today... :) What a loser Remco is!MajorPayne10-10-2026
- Couldn’t agree more, @RidesHills. CyclingUpToDate endeavours to ban him, but he continues to create new accounts. He was banned from CyclingNews. Whilst I used to argue against his negativity, I’ve simply lost interest. He is so utterly boring. I was initially worried he'd bully other fans, but nobody's having it. Most of us simply pay him no mind, anymore. At this point, everybody just scrolls right past him. He is quite a coward though, I’ll tell you that. His toxic comments on this site are nothing compared to what he is able to post on Twitter.anonymouscyclist10-10-2026
- C’mon, don’t follow in Horner’s footsteps. At least he had the courage to post HIS prediction ahead, I didn’t see many others disagreeing or claiming it was ridiculous.Mistermaumau10-10-2026
- @SLO: Your ridiculously rude language about riders makes it really hard to read your consistently condescending comments. "BS losers," how is it ok to talk about people like that? Also, you truly sound like you do not understand that this is a team sport, where del Toro rides for his leader and therefore doesn't follow his attacks. We can all agree that we are watching a once in a generation (really, a once in a century) rider in Pogačar, and that's great, but come on, you don't have to be a jerk when it comes to other riders. It's clear that I prefer to praise the positive in what I see, mostly because I am in awe of what these humans can do (including the ones who don't win), but your negativity about anyone but your idol is just so very very exhausting.RidesHills10-10-2026
- Huh??? You’ve obviously forgotten all the contrary you’ve been trying to sell us the last weeks. Shall I dig some out for you?Mistermaumau10-10-2026
- Doesn’t sound like it from his post-race interview. That old record you’re still playing is starting to jump a bit too often.Mistermaumau10-10-2026
- Sorry but who is this guy? If HE doesn’t know that « much » about Seixas by now, I’m recalibrating my opinion of his finish line questioning. As for PS, the most amazing thing about him so far is not what he’s won or almost won at this age, although that’s already phenomenal, it’s how consistent, numerous and long this seasons’ results have been. I don’t think there’s ever been a 19/20 year old quite as developed. Of course, you can’t expect development at this level to go backwards in time but it’s amazing to witness a rider you assume won’t be able to keep things up forever prove you wrong.Mistermaumau10-10-2026
- I agree, it was a good feeling to end the season this way... and only hope the knee injury held Del Toro back. Some how I have a feeling it wasn't just that... I wish my feelings are wrong.PogiSloFans10-10-2026
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