He was eagerly awaited, and he did not disappoint. Paul Seixas, considered the great hope of French cycling, won the short (3 km) but difficult prologue of the Tour de l’Avenir, which took place on a steep climb to Tignes 1800.
“This is very good news, because I was a little unsure about how I was feeling in training, but here, I felt better than expected”, said the young rider from the Décathlon-Ag2r-La Mondiale team, who is only 18 years old and has already made a remarkable professional debut, including at World Tour level (8th in the Critérium du Dauphiné). A slight setback in his athletic health forced him to withdraw from the recent Tour de l’Ain and left him without competition since the French championships at the end of June, and therefore without much to go on. “It’s different from the junior categories, where I used to race a lot, so it feels strange to have to manage training periods, but in a career, these are moments when you progress physically, but also mentally.”
Paul Seixas won by a narrow margin, seven tenths of a second ahead of Italy’s Lorenzo Mark Finn, who is also fresh out of the junior ranks and holds the world title in the road race (Paul Seixas won the time trial title).
Other favorites feature in the top 10, such as Belgium’s Jarno Widar (6th) and Spain’s Pablo Torres, last year’s winner (9th), while the
Other favorites feature in the top 10, such as Belgium’s Jarno Widar (6th) and Spain’s Pablo Torres, last year’s winner (9th), while the grueling climb in the prologue revealed the qualities of Ecuador’s Pablo Ramirez (4th).
The first stage is 188.6 km long, between Aoste (Isère) and Saint-Galmier (Loire).
“I’m here to win, and given my performance in the prologue, I think I can achieve my ambition, but first I have to defend the jersey,” warns Paul Seixas, who has taken the CIC Yellow Jersey.