{"id":784985,"date":"2026-07-07T14:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/784985\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T14:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:51:12","slug":"richard-plugge-wants-to-bring-paul-seixas-to-visma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/784985\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Plugge wants to bring Paul Seixas to Visma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Visma | Lease a Bike<\/a> has joined the long list of teams interested in Paul Seixas<\/a>. The 19-year-old Frenchman rides for Decathlon CMA CGM and is under contract through the end of 2027. Nevertheless, there is a battle to secure his signature, either after 2027 or perhaps even after this season. Richard Plugge<\/a>, CEO of Visma | Lease a Bike, confirmed the interest to IDL Pro Cycling on Tuesday.The news that the Dutch team had reportedly shown interest in Seixas a year ago came from Wielerflits<\/a> on Tuesday morning. Plugge and Visma | Lease a Bike usually steer clear of rumors, but the team\u2019s top executive did want to comment this time. \u201cEveryone wants to talk to Seixas; everyone wants him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

“Of course, we have Jonas Vingegaard as the team’s main leader, but we also need to look to the future. We’re always developing riders and helping them improve\u2014for example, Jonas is currently busy coaching Davide Piganzoli. We\u2019re always on the lookout for riders\u2014whether from our own development team or someone like Seixas, the rising star.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"paul-seixas\"\/<\/p>\n

Paul Seixas currently rides for Decathlon CMA CGM<\/p>\n

‘Seixas is the best fit for Visma | Lease a Bike,’ said Richard Plugge<\/p>\n

“He\u2019d be a great fit for us,” Plugge said with a stoic expression. The Dutchman did indeed speak with the top talent a year ago at the Tour de l\u2019Avenir. \u201cHe\u2019s with Decathlon and has a contract there. He has to honor that, and we abide by the rules, so we\u2019re not actively pursuing anything at this point. But if he decides to leave, we\u2019re the best team to win Grand Tours.\u201d<\/p>\n

An open recruitment drive for Seixas, who is also being courted by many other teams. UAE Emirates-XRG is reportedly interested, as are Lidl-Trek and Netcompany INEOS, and Pinarello-Q36.5 is said to be offering a salary of as much as 13 million euros<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ll see if we can compete with that,\u201d said Plugge. \u201cHe\u2019s very level-headed and very smart. He\u2019ll make the choice that will allow him to achieve the best results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"richard-plugge\"\/<\/p>\n

Richard Plugge<\/p>\n

Visma | Lease a Bike awaits Seixas’ decision<\/p>\n

So Plugge thinks that\u2019s the case with Visma | Lease a Bike, even if the pay were slightly lower there. \u201cWe\u2019ve won Grand Tours with various riders and have also won the most Grand Tours of any current team in the peloton. He has the best chance of doing that with us, but he has to be willing to train to reach Jonas\u2019s level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plugge did not want to mention any figures; he wants to focus primarily on Seixas\u2019s wishes. \u201cWe\u2019re taking a wait-and-see approach, because he still has a contract. But we\u2019re also ready to fight,\u201d he said defiantly. \u201cI\u2019m assuming he\u2019ll ride for Decathlon for another year and a half, but if he decides something sooner\u2026 That\u2019s where it starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"jonas-vingegaard\"\/<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard<\/p>\n

Seixas should succeed Vingegaard, not replace him<\/p>\n

According to Plugge, Seixas should not be seen primarily as Vingegaard\u2019s direct successor, but rather as someone who could become one in the long run. \u201cJonas is our leader, without a doubt. But the two can work well together. Jonas, in turn, has learned a lot from Primoz Roglic, and that partnership worked very well for a number of years. And Jonas doesn\u2019t have another ten years left in him.\u201d<\/p>\n

“That’s why he’s working so closely with someone like Piganzoli\u2014to train him to perhaps succeed him one day. We all know that a rider\u2019s time at the top doesn\u2019t last very long,\u201d said Plugge, who didn\u2019t want to sound arrogant but spoke with confidence: \u201cAlmost everyone in the peloton wants to join us, especially young riders. They see the development that talented riders go through with us and how we train our riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

“That’s why most riders tell their agents that if Visma | Lease a Bike comes calling, they definitely want to talk to them.” And that includes Seixas, who, according to Plugge, has become a sensation that everyone has come to adore. \u201cWe\u2019d already had our eye on him a year and a half ago. It wasn\u2019t for nothing that I was at the Tour de l\u2019Avenir, but he did what he did there, and so everyone jumped on the bandwagon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Visma | Lease a Bike has joined the long list of teams interested in Paul Seixas. The 19-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":784986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,174896,176605,21528,85,23372],"class_list":["post-784985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-cycling-transfers","tag-paul-seixas","tag-richard-plugge","tag-sports","tag-visma-lease-a-bike"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784985","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=784985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}