Paul Seixas credits preparation after impressive time trial victory: “We planned it perfectly”

“We planned it perfectly,” the 19-year-old said afterwards in the flash interview afterwards. “I think I started in the right time slot and kept a good pace.” It was a near-flawless time trial for the Decathlon CMA CGM leader. “I had really good legs and we were well prepared. Today all the hard work paid off.”

Towards the end of the time trial, riders including Ayuso could be seen getting pushed sideways by the wind, something Seixas did not appear to suffer from in the same way. “At the end the wind was a bit stronger. It was not a huge difference, but in a time trial it’s all about the details,” said the Frenchman, who admitted his team had deliberately thought about that factor in advance.

Even so, the wonderkid did not want to give all the credit to smart planning alone. “It won’t have made 23 seconds of difference, but it is part of the advantage. Every second counts.” With the win, Seixas also secured the first WorldTour victory of his career, having already taken two .Pro wins earlier this season. Still, his focus was already shifting to the rest of the week.

“It’s already nice to win here, but with these gaps it’s even more special. It gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the week.” Asked whether that now makes him the favourite to win the Tour of the Basque Country overall, Seixas preferred not to go too far. “I’m wearing the leader’s jersey now, so at the moment I’m the favourite to win the race. But of course it was only a time trial. It’s just the beginning, so we have to stay careful.”

That caution will already be needed on Tuesday, with a demanding mountain stage scheduled immediately in stage 2. “Tomorrow is already a very hard stage. I’ll need to stay near the front and race attentively to get through the day well.”