The early attack launched by the 19-year-old super talent harboured quite a risk. What's more, Seixas attacked without need, as it was actually his rivals who were under pressure. It was still more than six kilometres to the summit of San Miguel de Aralar. But his first attack was successful - nobody was able to close the gap.

At the finish, Seixas was 1:25 minutes ahead of Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl - Trek), who managed to beat Primoz Roglic (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) in the sprint for second place. His team-mate Florian Lipowitz also crossed the finish line with this group - unlike Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) and Juan Ayuso (Lidl - Trek). The Spaniard in particular lost a lot of time again and will probably have to say goodbye to the idea of the overall podium. Just like Kevin Vauquelin (INEOS Grenadiers). The French rider, who finished second in the opening time trial, crashed on the road and also lost a lot of time. Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) was also involved in that crash. The German had to abandon the race.

Things went better for Lipowitz. He had the best legs on the Aralar behind Seixas, but was repeatedly exposed to tactical constraints and did not lead in groups, giving Roglic the chance to close the gap. Which he did shortly before the finish. As a result, the Slovenian is now second behind Seixas in the overall standings, but already 1:59 minutes behind the winner. Nine seconds behind him, Lipowitz is now third.

Despite his big lead, Seixas said: "The overall standings are not decided. It never is until the last day. But I know now that I have the level to win here." Speaking about his ride to a second victory on stage 2 in the Basque Country, he said: "It was perhaps a little optimistic to attack so early, but I just felt it. After two or three minutes, I perhaps regretted this decision a little, but I had no choice, I had to keep going until the finish."

Tour of the Basque Country 2026 - Results of the 2nd stage

>> New role for Primož Roglič: Between team reorganisation and Vuelta mission

>> Tour of the Basque Country: The key moments for victory

>> Unplanned start: Lipowitz in the Basque Country with a podium finish

>> Tour of the Basque Country 2026: The favourites - A generational duel

>> Tour of the Basque Country 2026: The most important facts in brief

This is how the 2nd stage of the 2026 Tour of the Basque Country went:

There are no easy stages in the Basque Country and this was evident immediately after the start, with the first difficult climb after just six kilometres. A quartet around climber Frank van den Broek (Team Picnic PostNL) and Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) set off there. A counter attack around Bruno Armirail (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar Team) also managed to catch up. The six-man group built up a lead of up to two and a half minutes, of which around two remained by the halfway point of the race.

By the time they reached the foot of the San Miguel Aralar, the longest climb of the tour, another minute was gone. The Decathlon team, which was leading the race, put on the brakes to prevent the breakaway from being caught too early. The leading group flew apart on the climb.

In the peloton behind, Seixas went on the offensive himself six and a half kilometres before the summit. He quickly caught and overtook the breakaway. Meanwhile, it was Lipowitz who had the best legs to follow the Frenchman. But from behind, del Toro, Roglic, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar Team) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) rode back to the German. Due to existing disagreements, more pros rolled up from behind.

Roglic's return at the last minute

Two kilometres before the summit, del Toro attacked again to clear the group. But at the top, the Mexican was missing from the first chasing group. Lipowitz, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl - Trek), Uijtdebroeks, Izagirre and Alex Baudin (EF Education EasyPost) went into the descent 50 seconds behind.

There, Seixas was able to gain a few more seconds with a daring line. However, the group behind him did not work one hundred per cent together, so that the second chasing group was able to catch up again shortly before the finish. This allowed Roglic, among others, to come back. Del Toro, on the other hand, was unable to do so.

Seixas, however, didn't care. He rode to an unchallenged victory on the final climb. Behind him, Skjelmose and Roglic sprinted to the day's podium.