Seixas old enough for the Tour because he’s good enough for the Tour
Once the initial press releases had been sent out, final confirmation that Paul Seixas will be riding the Tour de France this July came in a heart-warming video filmed at the dining table in his grandparents’ kitchen. “This is where it all began,” says Seixas, who goes on to explain that as a young kid, he used to ride up the local pass as fast as he could.
“I’m here to share some exciting news,” he tells his grandparents and younger brother. “In July, I’m going to be doing a race…”
“Let me guess, that’s means… the Tour de France,” his grandmother says excitedly.
“You’ve thought of me. I’m not getting any younger, I’m 85,” his grandfather says, laughing and then adding, “I’m the happiest man in the world.”
The video ends with Seixas sat on his grandmother’s lap, her hugging him proudly.
In the official release, Seixas had said of the decision: “It’s a childhood dream, something I have often imagined, and it’s now very close. I am only 19 years old but, as I have already said, age is neither a barrier nor an excuse… My results since the start of the season have given me a lot of confidence; I feel ready and I will have ambitious goals. It’s not in my mindset, nor my view of cycling, to line up at the Tour de France simply for the experience, and I will aim for the best possible result overall.”
Given his results since the start of this season, this news was hardly a surprise. He began the year with a stage win and second place to Juan Ayuso at the Tour of the Algarve, won the Faun-Ardèche Classic with a long solo break in the Tadej Pogačar style, then chased the world champion all the way to Siena to finish second in Strade Bianche.
Three stage wins bagged him the overall, points, mountains and best young rider titles at Itzulia Basque Country. After that, he demonstrated both tactical skill and his astonishing power to win Flèche Wallonne on his debut in the race, then chased Pogačar even harder than he had on Tuscany’s white roads to finish second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Seixas is, of course, still a teenager. Assuming a trouble-free run through the next two months, he’ll be the youngest rider to start the Tour in 89 years when he lines up for the race’s opening team time trial in Barcelona. If he were to triumph in Paris – which, of course, is a ridiculous thought because a teenager surely can’t win the Tour, can they? – he would become the youngest champion in the event’s history.
His is an incredible story, all the more so because he’s French and the home nation hasn’t had a Tour winner since Bernard Hinault took his fifth and last success in 1985. Arguably more significant in this instance, though, is Hinault’s first yellow jersey victory, in 1978, claimed when he was 23.
The previous season, Hinault’s team boss Cyrille Guimard, had insisted that his protégé was too young for the Tour. In early 1978, Guimard prepared the way to the sport’s biggest race by sending Hinault to the Vuelta a España, which he duly won. Guimard asserted that Hinault needed this three-week stepping stone at the Vuelta to be ready for the Tour, and the five overall victories that followed suggest the canny team director was correct.
The question being widely asked about Seixas is whether he should be taking a similar path, by getting Grand Tour experience at the Vuelta.
There are two primary arguments being made in support of the suggestion that he should be making his three-week racing debut in Spain rather than France. The first, and most widely expressed, is that there would be less pressure on him at the Vuelta because he would be away from the intense spotlight the French media and public will place on him. The second is that Seixas has yet to find out whether he has the endurance required to contend for a Grand Tour title and that the Vuelta might be a better place to establish this as the stages are shorter and the level of the contenders isn’t as elevated as at the Tour.
Although this hasn’t been the case, the second of this arguments actually carries more weight than the first. This season, Seixas has catapulted himself into the rank of racing superbeings, still a touch behind Pogačar and perhaps Jonas Vingegaard too, but at least as good as every other leading racer in the pro peloton, including Ayuso, Isaac Del Toro and Remco Evenepoel. He can climb, time trial and descend with the very best, and has a keen tactical brain. The only question mark that remains is over his ability to last the pace over three weeks.
Turning to the issue of pressure, it’s hard to see what difference it would make if Seixas were to wait a year before making his Tour debut. Yes, he would gain experience at the Vuelta, but every rider who’s ever raced the Tour would confirm that the two races are poles apart in terms of the intensity of the spotlight. The Tour is the Tour. Equally, the Vuelta is not the Tour. The pressure on Seixas would be the same next year at age 20 as it will be this July when he’s 19.
One critical aspect in all this is Seixas’s temperament. He’s very young, but he seems very well prepared for the challenge he’s set himself. His teammates and team directors confirm that he’s a born leader, that the confidence he has in himself is transmitted to them. He’s also bolstered by the certainty of youth, that feeling that anything is within his reach.
It should also be mentioned that he has a good support team around him, including on the media side. His press officer, Dominique Issartel, spent three decades as a lead reporter at French sports daily L’Équipe and is ideally placed to deflect the media’s spotlight when required.
One other aspect of that video that stood out was Seixas’s attachment to home and family. Over recent months, rumors have circulated that he’s negotiating with Pogačar’s UAE team. While I’d be surprised if the French teenager’s agent isn’t having talks with other teams – that’s a key part of their job, after all – I still can’t see him deserting Decathlon, the team he raced for at under-23 level and that’s also France’s favorite brand, for the Emirati petro-state. Seixas is forging his own path and I can’t see him wanting to hang on Pogi’s coat-tails.
