
Paul Seixas exuded a hefty dose of confidence after winning his first WorldTour stage on Monday at Itzulia Basque Country. Along with the stage 1 time trial victory, he scored all the classification jerseys on the awards podium, including his first-ever leader's jersey for a top-level stage race.
His Decathlon CMA CGM team called the time trial effort "flawless". He called the bountiful day "a wonderful surprise". Seixas said he expected to ride fast and win, but he didn't expect to win by so much on the hilly 13.8km course in Bilbao.