Paul Seixas, born in Lyon 19 years ago, is one of the big promises for French cycling in general and for UCI WorldTeam Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, who last weekend became the youngest rider in over 100 years at the Giro di Lombardia to finish in the top 10 (seventh in one of the toughest one-day races in road cycling, known as the climber's Monument.
It was also the first ever Monument for Seixas, who in the last year has won time trial at the UCI World Junior Championships in 2024, was second in Paris-Camembert, won red jersey and points classification at Tour of the Alps and 1 in the General Classification at Tour de l'Avenir. And perhaps more impressively, finished third behind Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel at the European Championships.
Already a sensation in France, RMC Sport asked the teenager if he'll participate in Tour de France next year. He said he still doesn't know, knowing that Tour brings a lot of media pressure, but has confirmed he wants to do one of the big three major tours next season (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia or Vuelta a España).
And when asked about the comparisons that Seixas is already better than Pogacar, widely regarded as one of the best of all time, at his age, Seixas points out that "in his time, at 19, we weren't as developed in terms of development and structure. And ultimately, he trained maybe half as much as me and didn't do the same races".
"The most important thing isn't the points, but to explode one day, like he did. And also to reach the top level, not to be the strongest at 19", he added, very humble specially at his age. We will keep a good eye on him in the coming years...
