MADRID, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen-year-old Paul Seixas of Decathlon-CMA CGM produced another stunning ride to win the second stage of the Tour of the Basque Country cycle race and take a firm hold of the overall classification on Tuesday.

Seixas confirmed his status as one of French cycling's brightest young talents with another aggressive and powerful performance on the 164-kilometer stage between Pamplona and the Mendukilo Caves, which featured four classified climbs.

The young French rider went into the second stage after winning Monday's hilly time trial in Bilbao by 23 seconds and delivered another impressive display in one of Spain's most important early-season stage races.

Seixas broke away from the main peloton on the demanding slopes of the San Miguel de Aralar climb around 25 kilometers from the finish.

He distanced a group containing riders such as Primoz Roglic, Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe, Isaac del Toro of UAE Team Emirates and Juan Ayuso of Lidl-Trek to build a lead of more than 50 seconds before descending toward the finish.

The youngster then showed no fear on the narrow descent, extending his advantage over the chasers before the three-kilometer climb to the finish, where he came home one minute and 25 seconds ahead of Mattias Skjelmose of Lidl-Trek and Roglic to open an overall lead of almost two minutes over Roglic, with Lipowitz at two minutes and eight seconds.

Local favorite Mikel Landa of Soudal Quick-Step was a victim of the descent, crashing out at high speed and appearing to suffer a serious injury.

Wednesday will bring another day of demanding climbs and descents, with very little flat terrain over 152.8 kilometers of racing starting and finishing in the town of Basauri, near Bilbao. ■