Paul Seixas crushes competition once again at Tour of the Basque Country

Paul Seixas won the second stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on Tuesday. The young Frenchman crushed the competition and crossed the line solo in Cuevas de Mendukilo. Kévin Vauquelin crashed just before the climb and dropped completely out of the general classification. Juan Ayuso and Isaac del Toro also disappointed once again.

That Seixas was capable of great things was something the average cycling fan already knew. Yet the way in which the Frenchman swept the competition aside in Monday's opening time trial was once again a confirmation of the youngster's enormous talent. Seixas logically took the lead in the general classification.

Extend or hold on? That was the question for the Frenchman ahead of the start of the first road stage on Tuesday. As we have come to expect from the Basque Country, another day of climbing through the hills was on the programme. With the tough San Miguel de Aralar (9.4 kilometres at 7.8%) in the final phase, it would be one for the climbers.

That did not stop a group of seven opportunists from taking their place in the early breakaway. Frank van den Broek (Picnic PostNL) represented the Netherlands in the breakaway group, while Bruno Armirail was also present on behalf of Visma | Lease a Bike.

They were joined by Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) and four Spaniards: Adrián Fajardo (Burgos), Raúl García Pierna (Movistar), Joan Bou (Caja Rural) and Iker Mintegi (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

The breakaway group was, however, kept on a tight leash by Seixas's troops. The septet would never gain more than three minutes' advantage. On the Zuarrarrate (7.3 km at 4.7%), the second climb of the day, the pace was so high that the Decathlon CMA CGM riders nearly caught the escapees. As a result, Fajardo even had to let the breakaway group go.

In the approach to the final climb, the French armada loosened the reins somewhat, allowing the remaining six to begin the San Miguel de Aralar with a minute and a half's lead.

In the approach to that same climb, the pace in the peloton was ramped up enormously. Like a herd of wild bulls, the peloton rode towards the foot of the climb under the leadership of Lidl-Trek.

Once on the climb, it was ultimately Seixas's men who set the pace. After just a few kilometres, the breakaway group had already been blown apart. Bou, Hayter and García Pierna proved to be the best climbers as they began the impossible mission of staying ahead of the peloton.

In the peloton, however, Decathlon CMA CGM did not merely want to control Seixas's lead. With no less than 6.5 kilometres to the summit, Seixas attacked.

Only Mattias Skjelmose tried to follow, but the Dane quickly had to reconsider his decision. Nobody could follow the young Frenchman, although Lipowitz appeared to be limiting his losses at his own pace.

Juan Ayuso certainly could not follow. The Spaniard also had to let the chasing group behind Lipowitz go. In that group were still Isaac del Toro, Cian Uijtdebroeks, Ben Tulett, Primož Roglič, Skjelmose, Ion Izagirre, Alex Baudin and Tulett.

Someone we missed was the number two in the general classification, Kévin Vauquelin. He had crashed earlier in the day but was able to continue his way quickly at the time.

When the Mexican from UAE eventually found his rhythm, he quickly caught up with the chasing German. The gap to the unleashed Seixas, however, was still a good twenty seconds. When Del Toro then asked for the lead, the chasing group somewhat stalled, causing the Frenchman's advantage to grow considerably.

With one and a half kilometres to the summit remaining, the UAE rider accelerated again. He took Lipowitz, Roglič and a strong Izagirre and Uijtdebroeks with him. Seixas, however, appeared to be out of reach with an advantage of fifty seconds. Yet Del Toro could not truly convince as he had done earlier this year either.

Lipowitz noticed the pace dropping and launched yet another counter-attack. The German appeared to be the best climber after Paul Seixas, as the remaining chasers all came back together behind him.

At the summit, the race leader had an advantage of almost one minute, but the Frenchman still had to descend to the finish. In that long descent, Lipowitz was joined in the chase by Baudin, Uijtdebroeks, Izagirre and Skjelmose. Both Del Toro and Roglič missed the move.

You would think that with one minute the Frenchman had enough of a lead to descend safely, but Seixas did not consider his advantage sufficient. With all the risk in the world, the race leader descended, even though that was not at all necessary. Mikel Landa took the same risks in the chase too, crashing hard and ultimately abandoning the race. A huge blow for Soudal Quick-Step.

The chasers only lost time in the descent. Seixas could already smell his second victory in two days. On the final uphill kilometres, the advantage grew to almost one and a half minutes.

The only thing that nearly stopped the Frenchman from another victory was a spectator on the road, who seemed to have been hit by a motorbike. The chasing group, which did grow larger again towards the end, seemed to have resigned itself to second place. Behind Seixas, Skjelmose ultimately took a fine second place. Roglič finished third.