Paul Seixas makes cycling history at just 20 years old

France’s rising cycling talent Paul Seixas made history at the Tour de Lombardy when he became its youngest winner ever on Saturday after riders protested safety concerns.

The 20-year-old Seixas broke away with about 20km left to win the one-day race in northern Italy that had been dominated by the currently injured Tadej Pogacar for the previous five years.

“I had the feeling today would be a great day. It feels like a dream,” Seixas said.

France’s Paul Seixas celebrates with the trophy after winning the Tour of Lombardy cycling race in Como, Italy, on Saturday.

Photo: AP

He savored the winning feeling after racing for nearly six hours.

Spanish Vuelta winner Enric Mas was second at 48 seconds behind, followed by Italian Giulio Ciccone.

The Tour of Lombardy started in 1905. It is one of cycling’s elite one-day Monument races.

Seixas finished this summer’s Tour de France fourth overall in his debut.

Also this season, Seixas became the youngest winner of the Fleche Wallonne at 19 and finished runner-up to Pogacar, a five-time Tour champion, at the Strade Bianche and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

The start of the race was delayed for about five minutes when riders did not begin as scheduled in a protest to denounce unsafe racing conditions and the recent death of a cyclist.

Star rider Remco Evenepoel spoke for the peloton at the start line in Bergamo.

“Unfortunately, we lost the life of a brother and of a colleague, so we want to make this statement to show the world that we cannot keep accepting the fact that guys are getting injured or literally dying in what we like the most to do,” Evenepoel said.

“So this is why we want to spend five minutes more still to make our statement towards organizations, to the public, to everybody that is following cycling, because we cannot accept the fact that people are dying.”

British rider Finlay Tarling died following a serious incident in the Volta a Portugal race in August when the 19-year-old was run over by a car that entered the road. The driver reportedly missed the signs from stewards and entered the road going in the opposite direction of the race.