'Twenty watts a month': the staggering numbers behind Seixas's winter breakthrough

EF Education-EasyPost directeur sportif Matti Breschel watched the extraordinary duel between Paul Seixas and Tadej Pogačar from his team car at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. According to the Dane, the world champion was determined to beat the young talent at any cost — to make clear exactly who is in charge. He told Danish cycling media outlet Feltet all about it.

Breschel has been a directeur sportif at EF Education-EasyPost since retiring from racing in 2019. On Sunday at Liège, he was following team leader Alex Baudin from the team car. The Frenchman rode a strong race and was even part of the group that sprinted for the podium — though the sprint itself proved a step too far, and he finished nineteenth.

The eyes of the cycling world, though, were on his compatriot Seixas. Breschel was among those gripped by the battle that erupted on La Redoute. "It was as if he wanted to put him in his place. I think it went beyond simply winning the bike race. He wanted to show that young lad who the world champion is," the Dane said.

Breschel believes Pogačar was irritated by the attention building around the young talent. "Everyone had been talking about Seixas in the build-up, and everyone was being asked about him. Not a single rider could walk through the mixed zone without getting a question about Seixas."

Breschel was deeply impressed by what the nineteen-year-old produced. "It was remarkable that he could follow him on La Redoute. It was absolutely extraordinary. I didn't see that coming." The media will now expect even more from him, the Dane believes. "They'll keep talking about him. His talent is undeniable, but we haven't seen his ceiling yet."

EF leader Baudin knows his compatriot well, and passed on a remarkable detail to his directeur sportif about the young rider's winter. "He said that Seixas was gaining 20 watts of power every month through the winter. That is extraordinary," Breschel said. "The question now is whether he'll make his Tour debut this season," he concluded.