Seixas, 20, Becomes the Youngest Winner in Il Lombardia History

Twenty year old Paul Seixas of France won the 120th Il Lombardia on Saturday, October 10, riding alone into Como after a decisive attack on the Civiglio climb. It was the first Monument victory of his career, and at 20 he is the youngest rider ever to win the race, edging past Giovanni Gerbi, who took the inaugural edition in 1905, by about half a year. He is also the first French winner since Thibaut Pinot in 2018. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A delayed start

The day began with a pause. Led by Remco Evenepoel, the peloton waited five minutes after the start signal in a protest over road safety, pointing to recent accidents in the sport. Once the race got going, it was a wet and foggy one over 239 kilometers from Bergamo to Como.

The race

A 14 rider breakaway formed on the climb to Selvino and built an advantage of more than three minutes. The group included Ben O'Connor, Antonio Tiberi, George Bennett, Victor Campenaerts and Julien Bernard. The teams of the favorites kept the gap under control, and Red Bull split the peloton on the Madonna del Ghisallo. Matteo Jorgenson, Quinn Simmons and Brandon McNulty each tried to move clear, but all were brought back.

The race was decided on the penultimate climb, Civiglio, which runs 4.2 kilometers at an average gradient of 9.7 percent. Seixas accelerated from the favorites' group and opened a gap almost immediately. Evenepoel was among the first to be dropped. Tom Pidcock and Giulio Ciccone briefly followed Seixas before he left them behind as well.

Enric Mas started the climb poorly but recovered, caught Ciccone, and reached the summit about 30 seconds behind the leader. Seixas held his advantage on the descent. On the final climb, San Fermo della Battaglia, Mas attacked and dropped Ciccone to secure second place, 48 seconds behind. Ciccone took third at 1:05, in what was his last race for Lidl-Trek.

Behind them, a group of nine riders came to the line together at 1:20. Evenepoel won that sprint for fourth place, ahead of world champion McNulty. Tadej Pogačar did not start, which left the race more open than usual.

Top 10: 2026 Il Lombardia