'I can see him on the podium in Paris at the end of the three weeks' – The case for sending Paul Seixas to the Tour de France
On current form, there’s only one rider in the world capable of getting close to Tadej Pogačar, but he’s not even 20, yet
“What have you got to lose if you do your best? It doesn't matter what the result is. If you go for it and your head is in the right place, there's nothing to worry about.”
That quote is not from 2026, but from 2019, when a little-known Slovenian prodigy called Tadej Pogačar burst onto the world stage with victory at the Tour of California and stage wins at the Vuelta a España. There was much debate that year over whether he should ride a first Grand Tour at the tender age of 20, but he did, with evident great success.
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News editor at Cycling Weekly, Adam brings his weekly opinion on the goings on at the upper echelons of our sport. This piece is part of The Leadout, a newsletter series from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. As ever, email adam.becket@futurenet.com - should you wish to add anything, or suggest a topic.
Last Wednesday, the Decathlon CMA CGM rider won La Flèche Wallonne on debut, only the second rider to do so, and became the youngest ever winner of the 90-year-old race, too. He has won seven times this season, including a WorldTour stage race in Itzulia Basque Country. He has been responsible for a third of France's victories at WorldTour and ProTour level this year.
On Sunday, at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Seixas was the only man who could come close to matching Pogačar, sticking on the world champion’s wheel on La Redoute. He was dropped with 14km to go, but this was just his second time racing over 250km in his career. He still finished second, ahead of luminaries like Remco Evenepoel. We can give him some grace.
Although doing so requires some careful forgetting of the existence of Jonas Vingegaard, you could make the argument that at the moment the 19-year-old is the second best male rider in the world right now, behind only Pogačar. Certainly, in races where the pair of them have both been on the start list this year, Seixas has been the closest to the Slovenian, the rider whom many argue to be the best ever.
How the dynamic would unfold over three weeks is impossible to predict, but it is a performance that doesn’t feel too far away. As Thor Hushovd, general manager of Uno-X, told Le Monde last week: “He has to take part. It would be a great thing for France and would set up a fantastic battle.”
There is a sense that Seixas is too young to perform on cycling’s greatest stage, that the pressure will be too much, that the media attention will ruin him. It is true that France is a little bit obsessed, L’Équipe has adorned its front page with him multiple times. That will come wherever he goes, though. Decathlon and Seixas have the potential to do something special if they put him into the Tour this year; what would opting for the Vuelta a España instead prove?
He would still have to give it a go next year, or the year after, when there would be even more pressure to perform. It is up to his squad to shield him from the media glare, to support him, but also to get the best out of their prize asset.
Of course, time is on the young rider’s side, so he could delay, but with him now is also supreme confidence and the exuberance of youth. At the moment, he cannot know how pressured the Tour would be, so he can only go and attack it, in his trademark style. Decathlon must also be aware that he is yet to sign a contract extension, so they could be running out of time to make the most of their French star in the biggest French race of all.
“If he's there, everyone will cut him some slack,” Lilian Calmejane, a former French pro, said in the same Le Monde piece. “He will gain experience, bringing his freshness and fearlessness. But as soon as next year, expectations will be higher, and nothing short of victory will do.”
The Tour might still be 10 weeks away, but Seixas and his team have said that a decision on his participation would be made after the Ardennes Classics, which is now. A Grand Tour is obviously a step up, and a step into the unknown, but the idea of him going toe-to-toe with Pogačar and Vingegaard is a mouthwatering prospect, and one which his team should not deny us.
I am not part of Decathlon management, nor am I Paul Seixas, thankfully. But if I were, I would be arguing to roll the dice, to try this out. He is only going to be in this exciting moment once. And, I can see him on the podium in Paris at the end of the three weeks.
"I will be the same that I have always been," Pogačar said, after his breakout Vuelta success in 2019. "I won't allow the pressure to ruin me."
The Slovenian didn’t, and has gone on to greatness. Let’s not hold Seixas back, either.
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