Paul Seixas turns twenty on September 24th. The day before, at a press conference at his hotel in Bromont, France’s team leader explained what he expects from Sunday’s road race at the world championships in Montreal: nothing but the rainbow jersey will satisfy him. “With the form I’m in right now, and the hunger the team has, it would be a disappointment to finish with anything else,” he said.
Seixas took the bronze medal in the time trial, behind winner Remco Evenepoel. His national coach, Thomas Voeckler, has built the squad around him for the road race: Pavel Sivakov and Alex Baudin have said they will ride entirely in his service. The course, around 270 kilometres, is considered open, capable of suiting either a puncheur-climber or a puncheur-sprinter depending on how the race unfolds, and finishes on a tough climb, a long uphill drag.
Seixas made clear he isn’t only banking on a solo finish: “Any rider will tell you that arriving alone is the best option because it’s the simplest. But arriving with one or several riders would suit me too, because I’m not exactly slow in a sprint.”
A long uphill drag at the finish, I’ve got my own version of that too. Not in Montreal, mind you, but on the road climbing back up to the square, after the bridge, on the Sunday ride. I never take it flat out: I always keep a bit in reserve for the coffee afterwards. He says anything but victory would be a disappointment. I say anything but the coffee would be a disappointment. We haven’t got the same uphill drag, but we’ve each got ours, and mine, I know it by heart.
The road race at the world championships takes place on Sunday, in Montreal.
It’s true, we checked: RTBF Sport.
