Tactical breakdown: Paul Seixas doesn't need tactics

Paul Seixas came into La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday as a pre-race favorite, and four and a half hours after rolling out from Blegny, the Decathlon-CMA CGM wunderkind delivered on that promise on the iconic Mur de Huy.

Along the way, he defied conventional wisdom about the importance of timing an attack to perfection on the steep final climb. Seixas was at the front early on as the peloton ascended the lower slopes of Mur, and he was still there by the final meters of the race after having made multiple big digs over the final two minutes.

Frankly, the 19-year-old Frenchman made it all look rather easy as he rolled over the line three seconds ahead of Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) and Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) to become the youngest winner in the history of La Flèche Wallonne.

Paul Seixas has us firmly under his spellAs the teenage sensation becomes the first French man to win a major stage race in almost 20 years – and all four classification jerseys – the excitement for his future reaches fever pitch.Escape CollectiveKit Nicholson

Seixas' teammates put in the work on the day to help pull back a stubborn breakaway that survived until the penultimate climb and to keep Seixas close to the front. As ever, the race would ultimately come down to the Mur, the 1.3 km ascent that averages over 9% with multiple stretches in the double digits.

Over the course of 90 years of Flèche Wallonne history, it has become clear that anyone with designs on winning the race must be near the head of affairs with about a kilometer to go before the climb, because moving up after that is extremely difficult. From there, it's all about watts per kilo and, usually, timing, as countless riders over the years have launched their moves too early only to be caught long before the finish.

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