Paul Seixas wants to beat Tadej Pogacar... when four-time Tour de France winner is 'at his best' following record-breaking Il Lombard finish

Teenager Paul Seixas produced a stunning performance to finish seventh at Il Lombardia on Saturday. The 19-year-old has clearly got major goals in the sport - and the Frenchman says he wants to beat Tadej Pogacar when he is at his best. Four-time Tour de France winner Pogacar crowned another remarkable year of achievements by winning the race for a fifth time.

Highlights: Pogacar reigns supreme for fifth straight Il Lombardia victory

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Teenager Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) has clearly got major goals in the sport - and the Frenchman says he wants to beat Tadej Pogacar when he is "at his best".

Seixas, 19, produced a stunning performance to finish seventh at Il Lombardia on Saturday.

Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) crowned another remarkable year of achievements by winning the race for a fifth time.

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Seixas is full of praise for Pogacar, calling him an "inspiration", but that does not lessen his ambitions.

"He's one of the most complete riders out there," Seixas told Eurosport France's Bistrot Velo.

"In everything he does, in every race he takes part in, he's always ready to win.

"No matter the profile or the type of effort, between two minutes and an hour, he's the strongest. It's pretty crazy.

Pogacar: I say it every year, but this is the best season of my career

Video credit: TNT Sports

"He's an inspiration in that regard because that's how you become well-rounded and can win overall classifications. We try to understand how he does it.

"Beating him fair and square won't happen right away. We know his best performances. We're going to train to try to beat him.

"That's what sport is all about. There are some big hurdles to overcome first. There's a lot of work to be done, that's for sure."

Finishing seventh at 19 years old makes Seixas the youngest rider to make a men's Monument top 10 since 1917, when Luigi Cuppi finished fourth in Milan-San Remo at the age of 18, as reported by L'Equipe via Cycling News.

His rate of progress has been startling, and he is obviously trying to learn from the very best in Pogacar.

"There have been dominant figures in all sports, and we need to learn from that and be inspired by it," Seixas added.

"That's the best thing to do. This year, he was a cut above the rest. We'll see next year.

"The age gap is still significant. It means we're not from the same generation and that, eventually, if all goes well, he'll be on the decline before I am. But the goal isn't to beat him when he's on the decline, but when he's at his best. You have to be at his level to win races today, at least the biggest ones.

"It seems far away to me because there are so many hurdles to overcome to reach that level. I prefer to take a step back and tell myself that I still have time to improve.

"I'm progressing at my own pace, there's no point in telling myself that in two years' time I have to reach his level. I prefer to improve little by little and be the best version of myself."

Seixas said it was the length of the race that possibly prevented him finishing even higher on Saturday.

"In the end, maybe it was the distance and the high pace, but I got caught out a bit on a descent, positioning was hard, and at the last moment before the descent, I got caught a bit far back, and the effort I had to put in to get back probably cost me a bit," he said.

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Il Lombardia