Paul Seixas lands huge blow to rivals in opening Tour of the Basque Country time trial

Amid all the attention on the spring Classics, the Tour of the Basque Country also got underway on Monday. The six-day Spanish stage race brought together a strong field, with Ayuso, Del Toro, Roglic and Seixas all lining up for what promised to be a fascinating week of racing.

The opening test was an individual time trial in and around Bilbao, just under fourteen kilometres long and featuring one categorised climb. That made it an ideal first examination for the riders with general classification ambitions, especially on what was expected to be a warm and demanding day in the saddle.

At 14:30 local time, Georg Zimmermann was the first rider down the start ramp, officially getting the race underway. But much of the early focus was on Primoz Roglic, who rolled off at 14:46. The Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe leader immediately posted a strong benchmark, one that proved too tough at first for riders such as Tobias Halland Johannessen, Ben Healy and Matthew Riccitello.

All three conceded most of their time to the Slovenian in the flatter second half of the course. Bauke Mollema, meanwhile, made a particularly fast start and clocked the quickest time at the top of the climb, only to hemorrhage time afterwards and eventually lose more than four minutes. That raised some eyebrows: was it a complete collapse on the run-in, or had something gone wrong with the first intermediate reading? Either way, Roglic remained firmly in the hot seat for the time being.

Roglic couldn’t fully relax and enjoy his spot in the hot seat, as French prodigy Seixas was on the starting platform. The Frenchman immediately showed why the Slovenian had reason to worry, posting the fastest first split time. Meanwhile, Lipowitz and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) also got off to a good start, while Antonio Tiberi, just like in the Tirreno-Adriatico, failed to impress.

On the flat second section, 19-year-old Seixas not only managed to consolidate his ten-second lead but even extended it to nearly half a minute. A serious blow that the Frenchman dealt to the competition, as Lipowitz and Skjelmose didn’t even come close to Roglic’s time.

After Lipowitz finished, there was a brief wait for the next top favorites. In the meantime, Del Toro’s domestique Felix Grossschartner posted an impressive second-fastest time, just one second behind Roglic, while Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) also joined the top ranks.

After a brief lull without any favorites, Brandon McNulty and Kevin Vauquelin lined up at the start in quick succession. While the American was only three seconds slower than Seixas at the first intermediate point, he ultimately lost 43 seconds by the finish. Vauquelin paced his time trial better and clocked the second-fastest time, 23 seconds behind his compatriot.

With Del Toro and Ayuso, the last favorites were at the start. Could these two top riders still threaten Seixas’s time? Ayuso’s answer came quickly and decisively. The Spaniard had already lost 23 seconds at the top of the climb and didn’t seem to be getting anywhere near his French rival.

The Mexican, too, had a world of trouble keeping up with the time set by the great talent. He, too, had already lost fourteen seconds at the first intermediate point. The wind seemed to be playing tricks around Bilbao, as we saw Ayuso swerve to avoid a strong gust. Nevertheless, the two lost a lot of time, including in the second section. Meanwhile, Mikel Landa was doing much better, though he too lost some time to Seixas.

Ayuso, in particular, ended up losing a tremendous amount of time. He crossed the finish line 1 minute and 16 seconds behind. That’s certainly not a good sign for the Spaniard. A few minutes later, Del Toro also crossed the finish line, but he too lost more than fifty seconds. With Landa, the last rider to start also failed to match his time, so Seixas wins the time trial with a lead of over 23 seconds on his compatriot Vauquelin.