Seixas in Como, Hagenes in Tours, Sarrou in Fréjus: the pro weekend

This is the first issue of the Velunite Journal, our Monday look at the pro races, road and mountain bike. No pasted press releases: here is what happened over the weekend, told the way we would talk about it at the café after a ride, with room in the comments for your take. The weekend of 10 and 11 October gave us three races and three stories: the last Monument of the year, a French classic through the vineyards, and an MTB marathon where the previous day's winner turned up too.

Seixas takes over at Il Lombardia

On Saturday 10 October, over 239 kilometres from Bergamo to Como, the 120th Il Lombardia crowned Paul Seixas. The Frenchman from Decathlon CMA CGM won solo in 5h49'28" (just over 41 km/h) and, at 20 years and 16 days, became the youngest winner in the race's history, beating Giovanni Gerbi's 1905 record by about five months. His win also ends Tadej Pogačar's long run in the race.

The picture at the top is an archive photo from Il Lombardia 2023, with Pogačar in Bergamo: there are no free images of Saturday's edition yet, and we would rather show the right race from another year than a wrong photo from this one.

How it unfolded: the Civiglio does the sorting

The race was decided in the finale around Como. On the Civiglio, the toughest climb of the closing circuit, Seixas accelerated and nobody could follow: Remco Evenepoel, one of the pre-race favourites, was dropped right there. From that point the Frenchman built his lead on the descent and the San Fermo della Battaglia, arriving on the lakefront 48 seconds ahead of Enric Mas, who took second for Movistar. The intermediate gaps differ by a few seconds between sources, but the substance is the same: a solo move that took out all the competition.

If you like the geography of the race, these are the climbs we recommend riding in spring: we collected them in our guide to the best cycling climbs around Lake Como.

The Italians: Ciccone on the podium, three in the top ten

The Italian side of Il Lombardia has a good taste. Giulio Ciccone, third at 1'05" for Lidl-Trek, confirmed himself as our man for hard races after his European Championships silver, while Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) was eighth and Filippo Zana (Soudal Quick-Step) ninth: three Italians in the top ten, which on a day like this is not a given. Evenepoel, the big favourite, finished fourth.

Paris-Tours: Hagenes strikes first

There, about ten kilometres from the finish, Paul Lapeira made the selection and a group of eleven formed. About a kilometre from the line Hagenes made the winning move, Stuyven tried to bring him back and could not, and Laporte completed the podium. Florian Sénéchal was ninth and Latvia's Toms Skujiņš tenth, nine seconds back: the classic Tours bunch sprint did not happen this time.

MTB: Roc d'Azur goes to Sarrou, and Seixas is there too

Also on Sunday in Fréjus, the Roc d'Azur was held over 55 kilometres with more than a thousand metres of climbing. In the men's race France's Jordan Sarrou won for the sixth time, beating Britain's Cole Punchard in a sprint: both were given the same 2h18'26", with Norway's Østen Brovold Midtsundstad third, six seconds back, and the defending champion, Italy's Jakob Dorigoni, fourth. In the women's race New Zealand's Samara Maxwell won in 2h42'44", ahead of France's Léna Gérault and Switzerland's Ramona Forchini.

The curiosity was Paul Seixas, on the start line less than 24 hours after Il Lombardia. He treated it as fun, not something to win: on the technical descents he eased off to avoid risks and finished about 13 minutes behind the winner, in 2h31'. He said he is not yet comfortable on a mountain bike and would need to train the descents if he came back. With that palmarès, we would do the same.

A correction and a look back: Lake Placid

In the first version of this issue we placed the MTB World Cup finale at Lake Placid in the Lombardia weekend. That was wrong: it was held on 2 and 3 October, the weekend before. For those who missed it, in brief: in the men's XCO Charlie Aldridge beat Filippo Colombo in a sprint, both credited with the same time, with Martín Vidaurre third a second back; among the women Sina Frei won the sprint over Martina Berta, while the XCO overall titles went to Jenny Rissveds and Luca Martin. Berta, who had already won the short track, closed the season with a result that means a lot for Italy.

Our take, and yours

With Il Lombardia the year of the big classics is over, and for the first time in a while a new name sits on top. Seixas is 20 and has the kind of climbing acceleration you do not forget; but one race does not make a reign, and Pogačar will be back. The real question is another: do you like a cycling where a 20-year-old can win the hardest Monument, or does it scare you that everything is already so precocious? Tell us in the comments below.

What to watch next week

The European calendar is winding down but is not over: on Sunday 18 October there is the Veneto Classic, from Soave to Bassano del Grappa, another race with gravel that suits Paris-Tours types. And if you are already thinking about next year, have a look at the 2027 calendar, where we collect the races not to miss.