Already yesterday he had dominated the competition with an incredible time trial, but today Paul Seixas wanted not only to replicate, but actually reaffirm to everyone his incredible talent. The very young French talent from the Decathlon CMA CGM Team made the difference on the climb, securing his fourth seasonal victory and putting almost a minute and a half on all his rivals, effectively extending his overall lead. Second place went to Mattias Skjelmose, who beat Primoz Roglic in the group sprint.

THE RACE. The first road stage of this year's edition of the Basque Country Tour, which as usual offered a perfect course for climbers. Over the 164 km from Pamplona Iruna to Mendukilo Kobazuloa, four categorized climbs were tackled: the Etxauri climb (2nd cat.), Zuarrarratw and Aldatz (3rd cat.) and finally the San Miguel Aralar climb (1st cat.) with 9.5km at an average gradient of 7%.

The early part of the race was characterized by an attack from seven riders: Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick Step), Adrian Fajardo (Burgos Burpellt BH), Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar Team), Frank Van Den Broek (PicNic Postnl), Joan Bou (Caja Rural), Iker Mintegi (Euskaltel Euskadi) and Bruno Armirail (Team Visma Lease a Bike). The peloton was constantly controlled by Lidl Trek and Decathlon CMA CGM of race leader Paul Seixas.

The race heated up on the San Miguel Aralar climb thanks to Lidl Trek's efforts. While the breakaway group at the front was falling apart, more and more riders in the main group lost contact, including Kevin Vauquelin, who finished second in yesterday's time trial. It was Paul Seixas who made his move 26 km from the finish, about 7 km from the summit, and in no time he was alone at the front.

The young French rider from the Decathlon team continued to increase his advantage, also because the small group of counterattackers never managed to find a real agreement. In the final section of the climb, Florian Lipowitz and Clement Champoussin tried several times to make a difference, but without success. Worth noting is the heavy crash of Mikel Landa on the descent; the Basque rider, visibly in pain, was forced to abandon the race.

With today's victory, Paul Seixas further increased his overall lead and will start tomorrow with a 1'59" advantage over Primoz Roglic. The third stage will cover 152.8 km from Basauri to Basauri, another very challenging stage with the Barrerilla climb (5 km at 6.6%) right in the middle of the race. The final kilometers are undulating, with the finish positioned on a 1.3 km climb at an average gradient of 6.2% with peaks of 12%.

STAGE RESULTS

1 Seixas Paul Decathlon CMA CGM Team 04:11:48

2 Skjelmose Mattias Lidl-Trek + 01:25

3 Roglic Primoz Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 01:25

4 Uijtdebroeks Cian Movistar Team + 01:25

5 Tulett Ben Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 01:25

6 Baudin Alex EF Education-EasyPost + 01:25

7 Izagirre Ion Cofidis + 01:25

8 Lipowitz Florian Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 01:25

9 Champoussin Clément XDS Astana Team + 01:31

10 Tejada Harold XDS Astana Team + 01:43

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION

1 Seixas Paul Decathlon CMA CGM Team 04:28:47

2 Roglic Primoz Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 01:59

3 Lipowitz Florian Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 02:08

4 Skjelmose Mattias Lidl-Trek + 02:14

5 Tulett Ben Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 02:27

6 Baudin Alex EF Education-EasyPost + 02:31

7 Izagirre Ion Cofidis + 02:36

8 del Toro Isaac UAE Team Emirates-XRG + 02:44

9 Tejada Harold XDS Astana Team + 02:48

10 Champoussin Clément XDS Astana Team + 03:00