One day after becoming the youngest winner of Il Lombardia thanks to an inspired solo attack on the late Civiglio climb, Paul Seixas will trade his skinny tyres for fat tyres and race Roc d’Azur CIC in Fréjus, one of the biggest mountain bike event on the calendar.
The race organisers confirmed Seixas’ attendance along with that of Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease a Bike), with both Frenchmen lining up for the flagship event, the 55-kilometre Roc d’Azur CIC.
The five-day festival has been going on since Wednesday and includes all manner of events for road, gravel and mountain biking, hiking and even races for dogs.
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According to the race organisers, Roc d’Azur will be Seixas’ last race of a massively successful season that included victories in the Itzulia Basque Country, La Flèche Wallonne, Faun-Ardèche and fourth place overall in the Tour de France.
Following his victory in Il Lombardia, Seixas said, “It’s beautiful and crazy to win a Monument.
“I hope it’ll be inspiring for young riders from my country as much as Thibaut Pinot’s win eight years ago was inspiring for me.”
After falling short in the UCI Road World Championships, where he finished third in the individual time trial behind Remco Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna, and 15th in the road race after Brandon McNulty’s surprise solo raid, Seixas was fully focused on Il Lombardia.
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“I skipped the European championships because I wanted to win here,” Seixas said. “It makes it an awesome second pro season.”
Now, Seixas will hit the dirt for some early morning fun on Sunday. While he hasn’t competed at the international level in mountain biking, the 20-year-old raced in his first world championships in cyclocross in 2023 as a junior.
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