Can Paul Seixas' giant leap inspire Jarno Widar? "It's an unfair comparison"

Since his impressive second place in the Strade Bianche, much has been said and written about the 19-year-old top talent Paul Seixas. His step towards the absolute top came very smoothly. Half a year ago, Seixas was still twice beaten by the one-year-older Limburger Jarno Widar in the Tour de l'Avenir. How should the Belgian view Seixas’s development and where does he stand himself? We ask national coach Serge Pauwels.

The Antwerp native now based in West Flanders was at the time the team leader of Widar in l'Avenir and saw everything from the front row. "I remember there were doubts back then about whether Seixas was really fit. Just before the race, he had apparently been a bit ill. Maybe that is why we shouldn’t focus too much on that week. Even without top form, he won two climbing time trials and the overall race, while Widar had his better punch on uphill finishes. That gave a distorted picture," says Pauwels.

Does that explain the growing gap between the two top talents? In February, they met again during the Tour of Algarve. This resulted in Seixas’s first professional victory, while Widar still finished the race with a fine seventh place. "I think Jarno is carrying on almost just as well. He should not be judged based on Seixas’s stages. He has become an absolute world-class rider of an incredible level. He is extremely good. Then you mainly have to focus on yourself."

Although last year Pauwels cautiously compared him to Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar, he finds it a shame that expectations are so high for Widar as well. "Not only from the outside world. I was about to congratulate him on that seventh place in Algarve. From my time as a rider, I know how hectic and tough that finish is. When you finish seventh as a 20-year-old, you’ve simply done very well. But then I read an interview afterwards where he said there was nothing left in him..."

"Jarno is someone who always has very high expectations of himself, but it doesn’t help to tear yourself down, and he definitely shouldn’t compare himself to Seixas. I think he is doing very well, but maybe it’s progressing a bit slower. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. I think it’s an unfortunate comparison with Seixas. What that boy is doing reminds me of when Jan Ullrich won the Tour de France at 22. We all thought that was very early back then. Now we’re talking about someone who is 19. That’s very impressive."

Any good advice for Widar? Pauwels has some: "I think he should set himself intermediate goals and be satisfied with the progress he makes in his career. Of course, his ambition will stretch to the biggest races in the long term and maybe the Grand Tours. But he must absolutely not forget to be happy with what he is achieving now. He has to focus on himself, no matter how difficult that is. And then he will keep improving, in small, perhaps slightly slower steps."