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Teen star Seixas claims stage five to close on Basque Tour victory / Photo: © AFP
Teen star Seixas claims stage five to close on Basque Tour victory
Teenage French starlet Paul Seixas sprinted to stage five victory at the Tour of the Basque country on Friday, edging out Florian Lipowitz to extend his significant overall lead.
The 19-year-old has dominated this week in northern Spain, winning three of the five stages.
Barring a disaster on Saturday, he will become the first Frenchman in 19 years to a World Tour stage race.
If he does so, he would do it a year younger than the sport's dominant star Tadej Pogacar managed when he won the Tour of California in 2019, aged 20.
Javier Romo came in third to complete the podium after a tough day of riding, which started and finished in Eibar, featuring eight categorised climbs over 176.2 kilometres.
Wearing the yellow leader's jersey, Seixas triumphed once again in the race's Queen stage, although he found it harder going than in his previous stage wins.
Seixas now holds a provisional 2min 30sec lead on second-placed Red Bull rider Lipowitz, while veteran Primoz Roglic dropped to third, 3min 40sec behind the leader.
Lipowitz attacked and Seixas went with him, leaving Romo and Roglic among others behind with less than 30 kilometres to ride.
They went together all the way to the finish, with Seixas doing most of the work and Lipowitz tucking in behind on his wheel.
Despite that, Seixas still had enough in the tank to come around the German and cross the line, pumping his fist in celebration.
The final stage on Saturday takes riders 135.4 kilometres from Antzuola to Bergara, featuring six climbs.
C.Lewis--SFF
