{"id":501255,"date":"2026-02-24T16:03:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T16:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/501255\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T16:03:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T16:03:17","slug":"if-you-are-afraid-then-you-have-already-lost-why-paul-seixas-is-cyclings-next-superstar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/501255\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018If you are afraid, then you have already lost\u2019: Why Paul Seixas is cycling\u2019s next superstar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cGame-changer.\u201d<\/p>\n

French cycling\u2019s chosen one uses the phrase to describe the 2025 European Championships road race. The October event enhanced his confidence and served as his arrival at the very top of the sport.<\/p>\n

When Tadej Poga\u010dar and Remco Evenepoel attacked with 90km to go, Paul Seixas waited, weighed his effort, and rode up to their back wheels to make it three prodigies up the road.<\/p>\n

That attack did not stick but he was a protagonist for the rest of a gruelling race, with 3,400 meters of climbing. On the final climb, with those two world champions minutes up the road, he dropped rival Juan Ayuso then launched an all-out, 30-second attack on the race\u2019s final climb to get rid of Italy\u2019s Christian Scaroni.<\/p>\n

It left Seixas clenching his fist as he crossed the finish line, sharing the podium with the reigning road and time-trial world champions.<\/p>\n

Four months later, Seixas shows his self-belief when asked whether he is afraid of Poga\u010dar and Evenepoel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m never afraid,\u201d Seixas tells The Athletic before February\u2019s Volta ao Algarve in Portugal. \u201cSomething I always have in me is that you cannot be afraid of someone in a race. You have to have respect for those guys, of course, because they are amazingly strong. But I am never afraid of someone before a race. Because if you are afraid, then you have already lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seixas himself can be a game-changer: for his Decathlon CMA CGM team, for French cycling, even for the sport after a neo-pro season that underlined why he is the most talked-about talent in the peloton.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Seixas takes a podium selfie with Evenepoel and Pogacar at the 2025 European Championships (DAVID PINTENS\/BELGA MAG\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

There is a chasm between possessing white-hot potential and achieving concrete, consistent results at the highest level, but Seixas is bridging that gap with apparent ease.<\/p>\n

A year ago, the reigning world junior time-trial champion abandoned his first WorldTour race, the UAE Tour, after a crash. However, every passing month has brought progress. Alongside that podium finish to two of the sport\u2019s biggest stars, he won the Tour de l\u2019Avenir, was seventh in Il Lombardia, the youngest rider to finish in the top 10 of a Monument since 1917, eighth in the Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9 and 13th in a grueling World Championships road race in Rwanda. Already, the 19-year-old belongs among the WorldTour\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really more confident, but in a different way. Because this time last year, it was just discovering the world of professional cycling,\u201d Seixas says. \u201cNow I\u2019m fully in it, I start to know how each race goes and how my level is compared to other riders. So I have clear goals in my mind now. And I\u2019m also a lot more confident about what I can do and what I can aim for. Last year, I already had some really good power, but now it\u2019s getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going straight from the under-19 ranks to the WorldTour usually requires patience, time and readjustment of a rider\u2019s goals. The races are longer, harder and far deeper in terms of quality, with a cohort of similarly-talented physiological specimens competing. His Decathlon team managers did not know where to set the benchmarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we\u2019ve already had some French junior world champions and afterwards: pfft\u2026,\u201d directeur sportif Julien Jurdie says. \u201cFor me, he really confirmed an exceptional level in 2025. We saw it week after week, month after month \u2026 in every race, we put the bar a little higher and he goes over it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is learning every day,\u201d Jurdie adds. \u201cFor example, in the debrief [after the opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve], Oliver Naesen said about positioning, \u2018Paul, you need to be more present with us.\u2019 And Paul\u2019s response was, \u2018Yes, but I\u2019ve always been used to being all alone in the peloton, getting into position by myself [in junior racing].\u201d I said, \u2018You have riders who are paid to place you, you have to take advantage of that\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Seixas won the white jersey for best young rider at this month\u2019s Volta ao Algarve (Jo\u00e3o Matos \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Seixas\u2019s sense of the collective shone through when he gave up a stage win at the Tour of the Alps last April to team-mate Nicolas Prodhomme after the pair broke away together, overruling instructions from the team car to win himself. \u201cThat was the best thing he did in 2025, for me,\u201d Jurdie says, struck by his intelligence and lucidity.<\/p>\n

Seixas probably knew that his own first success was only a matter of time. His goal for the 2026 season was to win as soon as possible and he ticked that box on just his second race day, narrowly outsprinting Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) on stage 2 of last week\u2019s Volta ao Algarve atop Alto da F\u00f3ia.<\/p>\n

Ayuso lost that battle but beat him into second place overall by 14 seconds. A Vuelta podium finisher days before his 20th birthday in 2022, the Spaniard knows full well that if you\u2019re good enough, you\u2019re old enough. \u201cI don\u2019t really take his age into account \u2014 I was also there quite young, already fighting for victory,\u201d Ayuso said pre-race, adding later that Seixas is \u201cgoing to be one of the greats\u201d.<\/p>\n

Seixas\u2019s lofty hopes fit with that prediction. \u201cI always say that my biggest dream is to win the Tour de France. I think it\u2019s the biggest achievement you can have as a cyclist,\u201d Seixas says. \u201cAnd then, to win the World Championships in 2027 in Haute-Savoie. It\u2019s something really personal to me because my grandfather from my father\u2019s side, the one who gave me the desire to start cycling, lives five kilometers from the course.\u201d Seixas has a home advantage: he first rode the C\u00f4te de Domancy at the age of 10 and knows the finishing circuit inside out.<\/p>\n

Spending most of his childhood in the village of Anse, 25km north of Lyon in southeast France, he would watch the Tour de France with his grandfather. As a kid, Seixas looked up to Peter Sagan\u2019s \u201cunique, crazy\u201d style and was inspired by Romain Bardet, Thibaut Pinot and Chris Froome.<\/p>\n

He has long been ahead of the field, becoming French national road race champion as a first-year youth rider at the age of 14 in 2021. \u201cI won a lot of races, but I also lost a lot because there was always someone on me. Sometimes when you\u2019re young, it\u2019s difficult,\u201d he reflects on his teenage years racing. \u201cWhen I was junior, I learned to take a step back from what I achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Seixas finished eighth at the 2025 Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9 at the age of just 18 (ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

There have been precious few setbacks for the fledgling talent, but a significant disappointment was finishing seventh at the 2024 junior world championships road race in Z\u00fcrich, frozen by cold. Winning the rainbow jersey in the time-trial a few days earlier at least softened the blow.<\/p>\n

This is still just the beginning for Seixas. \u201cI think I can improve on everything,\u201d the Frenchman says. \u201cEveryone can. You\u2019re never at the end of the game. But I have a few points in particular. It starts with food: I was eating healthy but not watching it so much. Now, I did more focus in the training camp, eating good things for my body really precisely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I also started doing some breathing exercises to improve my capacity. Also, it takes time: I\u2019m just 19 so I\u2019m still improving and I\u2019m still gaining muscle. I\u2019ve put on two kilos and now I feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tour de France. Seixas has already heard those three charged words a lot, and they will crop up even more in the future. His home nation has endured 40 winless years in the sport\u2019s blue riband event and as Seixas seemingly makes progress with every passing race, it is difficult for some to not get carried away.<\/p>\n

He is already among the top 10 favorites for this year\u2019s edition with several bookmakers, despite never having raced a three-week Grand Tour. L\u2019\u00c9quipe are currently working on a film following him behind the scenes this season.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Bernard Hinault is the last home rider to win the Tour de France, in 1985 (Graham Watson\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cMedia-wise, he has an effervescence,\u201d Jurdie, who has never had so many requests to talk about one rider, says. \u201cWe have this dream, this fantasy: who will be the first Frenchman to win the Tour since Bernard Hinault? That creates something a \u2018bit mad\u2019 media-wise \u2026 everyone understands that Paul will surely become a great champion cyclist if he does not have any problems, someone with the capacity to be world champion, to win Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge, Il Lombardia, a Grand Tour \u2014 maybe the Tour de France. But he takes that with a lot of perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jurdie can understand the hype. He has seen Seixas flow around corners on his TT bike at 55 kilometres per hour (34 mph) at the national championships as if it is a natural extension of his body.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a natural, someone for whom cycling is innate\u2026 Paul still dazzles us at every race,\u201d Jurdie says. After following the youngster on a recon of last year\u2019s Il Lombardia, he asked Seixas how he found the final climb, the Passo di Ganda. \u201cEasy,\u201d was the response.<\/p>\n

Decathlon CMA CGM Team CEO Dominique Serieys suggested last summer that he is in favor of Seixas doing the 2026 Tour de France. The decision has not been made: the young man himself suggests it is \u201cmore up to the team, it depends on their strategy and also my shape. We\u2019ll see in May or June if I do it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

If he pins on a race number in Barcelona, the 19-year-old would be the youngest Tour rider since the Second World War.<\/p>\n

Amid all the noise and attention, how does he handle it all? \u201cI really need to stay calm because I guess there\u2019s a lot of pressure on me,\u201d Seixas says. \u201cI take it as a positive effect. It\u2019s quite good, I manage it well and the people around me are very wise, which is also important.\u201d Seixas was recently assigned his own press attach\u00e9, the former L\u2019\u00c9quipe journalist Dominique Issartel, who sits in on our interview at the team hotel in Albufeira.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Seixas has described his third place at the European Championships last year as a \u2018game-changer\u2019 (JEFF PACHOUD\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Decathlon directeur sportif Jurdie says he has not seen any weak points in Seixas the cyclist. His only minor flaw comes off the bike. \u201cHe is a bit absent-minded, he forgets things,\u201d Jurdie says. \u201cHe could leave his cycling shoes in his bedroom tomorrow, for example. But in the race, he is not distracted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m someone who is really quiet and really calm,\u201d Seixas explains. \u201cSo when I\u2019m in a hurry, I can make mistakes because it\u2019s not my nature. Now, I try to improve that side because sometimes it can be cool to be calm \u2014 I will stay calm in any situation, I will not lose energy in a race or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI really manage my emotions well,\u201d Seixas adds, with characteristic serenity. \u201cBut it can sometimes be difficult because I\u2019m too relaxed in some moments. And I\u2019m not always on my phone, so sometimes I can miss information. Like some mornings, some timings change and when you see it too late, then you\u2019re in a hurry.\u201d In order to remedy this, Seixas says he is always making lists on paper or his phone of what he needs and tries to arrive 10 minutes early.<\/p>\n

His growing success and doubtless considerable salary has not gone to his head: Seixas drives a grey, second-hand Volkswagen Tiguan, which he got after passing his driving test 18 months ago.<\/p>\n

He is still in the fresh, exciting discovery phase \u2014 competing in races for the first time, before limits appear or perceptions change, before the pressure to repeat or improve upon results comes, before certain ceilings or sizeable setbacks.<\/p>\n

No question seems to faze Seixas. He exudes a quiet self-confidence, divorced of arrogance, speaking in flowing English at the age of 19. It is simple for him. \u201cI want to be the best version of myself, so I can achieve the best I can do,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

His demeanor after winning on the Alto do F\u00f3ia climb is similar, fulfilling his media responsibilities as his six-foot frame shakes slightly in the wind up at 900 metres, smiling as he speaks. Teenage kicks, so hard to beat.<\/p>\n

He is happy, but not too happy, not surprised or phased. His victory is surely the first of many, in the exact same location as Tadej Poga\u010dar\u2019s maiden triumph as a professional, seven years ago.<\/p>\n

It seemed inevitable, just like Paul Seixas\u2019s ascension into the sport\u2019s elite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cGame-changer.\u201d French cycling\u2019s chosen one uses the phrase to describe the 2025 European Championships road race. The October…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,11880,85],"class_list":["post-501255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-global-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}