{"id":612101,"date":"2026-04-17T03:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T03:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/612101\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T03:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T03:25:12","slug":"in-10-or-15-years-well-be-able-to-say-we-were-teammates-with-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/612101\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIn 10 or 15 years, we\u2019ll be able to say we were teammates with him\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nSeixas did not arrive at Itzulia as the undisputed leader. He left it as the rider everything was built around. \u201cHis physical level, his leadership is so unquestionable that I think for the team-mates, it\u2019s completely natural to ride for Paul,\u201d Aurelien Paret-Peintre said in conversation with Eurosport.fr.<\/a><\/p>\n

That kind of acceptance is not automatic, particularly when the rider in question is still in his second professional season. It usually takes years to establish that position. In this case, it has taken months. Rather than forcing the issue, Seixas has removed the debate entirely. His level has made the decision for everyone else.<\/p>\n

A breakthrough that confirmed internal beliefWithin the team, the shift had already been building. \u201cWe could already feel that he had the potential to be a leader and that it almost shook things up a bit for Felix Gall,\u201d Nicolas Prodhomme<\/a> explained, also speaking to Eurosport.fr.<\/p>\n

What Itzulia provided was confirmation. Not just that Seixas could lead, but that he could control a WorldTour race from start to finish.<\/p>\n

That control was built on preparation as much as performance. \u201cHe didn\u2019t arrive saying, \u2018I\u2019m going to win\u2019, far from it,\u201d Paret-Peintre said. \u201cBut he knew he would be able to fight at the front.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there, the team committed fully to a plan that revolved around decisive moments, particularly on the climb to San Miguel de Aralar. \u201cIt was planned that Jordan would do the lower part, and that I would take over for the second part, up to that steep section where Paul wanted to attack,\u201d Prodhomme said.<\/p>\n

The execution followed the plan exactly. Seixas attacked where intended and immediately created the separation that defined the race.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Seixas at Itzulia Basque Country 2026<\/p>\n

Even those closest to him were surprised<\/p>\n

The scale of that performance was not fully anticipated, even inside the team. \u201cWhen he crossed the line, I was on the bus and I saw he had taken 28 seconds out of Roglic,\u201d Paret-Peintre said. \u201cIn a time trial, we often talk about seconds per kilometre. Here, that\u2019s almost two seconds per kilometre. That really surprised me.\u201d<\/p>\n

That reaction is telling. It highlights the gap between expectation and delivery, even among those working with him every day. Across the week, Seixas did not just respond to the race. He dictated it.<\/p>\n

Learning while already leading<\/p>\n

Despite the results, his development as a leader is still ongoing. \u201cHe will grow more and more into that role. At 19, it\u2019s not easy to address your team-mates, even if we had a young team. I think he will gradually mature in that area,\u201d Paret-Peintre said.<\/p>\n

There are also tactical details to refine. \u201cYou have to find the right balance, not to annoy the other teams too much,\u201d Prodhomme added. \u201cSometimes we were a bit too demanding. You have to accept letting certain riders go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those are the margins that experience will shape. The foundations are already in place.<\/p>\n

A glimpse of something bigger<\/p>\n

What stands out most is not just the level Seixas reached during the week, but the effect it is already having around him. Within the team, the reaction is not framed in terms of potential, but perspective. Those alongside him are already placing what they experienced into a longer timeline, aware that this may only make full sense with distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great to be by his side last week. We don\u2019t know how far Paul will go, but in 10 or 15 years, we\u2019ll be able to say that when we ended that 20-year drought without a WorldTour win, we were there with him. The team-mates are getting stronger alongside him. We want to push ourselves to support him as far as possible,\u201d Paret-Peintre said.<\/p>\n

That reflection shifts the focus away from a single result. It places Seixas within something broader, where his impact is already being measured by how he is changing the riders around him.<\/p>\n

At 19, that is what separates a promising talent from something more significant. Not just the ability to win, but the ability to reshape the environment in which those wins happen.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seixas did not arrive at Itzulia as the undisputed leader. He left it as the rider everything…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,191902,63,784,176987,297291,176605,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-612101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-aurelien-paret-peintre","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-decathlon-cma-cgm-team","13":"tag-nicolas-prodhomme","14":"tag-paul-seixas","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612101","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=612101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}