![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2264036878.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAmerican Jorgenson witnesses young talent first hand, 19 year old Seixas wins Faun Ard\u00e8che with Poga\u010daresque solo. \n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) en route to dropping Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma – Lease a Bike) in the Faun-Ardeche Classic (Photo: Billy Ceusters\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n
Updated February 28, 2026 05:09PM<\/p>\n
Matteo Jorgenson<\/a> may be one of the best riders in pro cycling, but the up and coming 19 year old Paul Seixas<\/a> gave the American rider something of a hammering on Saturday, thus underlining why there is so much fuss about the young Frenchman.<\/p>\n Seixas is mentioned by some as the rider who might finally end his country\u2019s 41 year wait for another Tour de France win. That remains premature, given his age and the fact that he is yet to start a grand tour, but his class was clear in the Faun-Ard\u00e8che Classic<\/a>.<\/p>\n Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) won the race with a 41.8 km solo ride, dropping Jorgenson and hitting the line 1:48 clear of the American, runner-up Jan Christen<\/a> (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Lenny Martinez<\/a> (Bahrain-Victorious).<\/p>\n Jorgenson was fourth and will doubtlessly relay the details of what happened to the Jumbo-Visma Tour de France leader Jonas Vingegaard.<\/p>\n And Seixas? He took the first pro win of his career nine days ago when he won stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve. His second has arrived just over a week later.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was incredible. I felt amazing all day,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the climbs, I felt really comfortable and I barely had to exert myself. The team positioned me perfectly at the foot of the Saint-Romain-de-Lerps climb, and then everything just fell into place.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I wasn\u2019t necessarily planning on going it alone, but I quickly realized I had the legs to try something.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018One rider was by far the strongest today\u2019 Seixas made his first surge with 44.6km to go, hitting the front on the Saint-Romain-de-Lerps climb and dragging Christen, Martinez and Jorgenson clear. Only Jorgenson could hang on, but was hurting to do so. The American cracked with 41.8km to go and the 19 year old rode clear.<\/p>\n Seixas drove onwards towards the finish, with the three riders joining forces behind but still finishing almost two minutes behind. It was the first race of the season for Jorgenson and while he is likely missing some sharpness, he will still have been very impressed by what he saw.<\/p>\n Jorgenson rode strongly towards the line and led out the sprint, although the other two were able to edge past.<\/p>\n \u201cI look back with satisfaction on the race we rode,\u201d said Visma-Lease a Bike directeur sportif Frans Maassen. \u201cMatteo, Davide [Pignzoli] and Ben [Tulett] rode a very strong race. Compliments as well to Tim Rex, who did a tremendous amount of work.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, one rider was by far the strongest today, but we can be satisfied with the way we raced.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m taking a step forward\u2019 Given his age and what he has achieved thus far, Seixas is predicted to have a huge future. He is being compared to the last French Tour winner Bernard Hinault and also to Tadej Poga\u010dar. He\u2019ll shrug off comparisons for now, being determined to keep his feet on the ground amid the hype.<\/p>\n What\u2019s important is to keep working hard in advance of upcoming rides in Strade Bianche, Itzulia Basque Country, Fl\u00e8che Wallonne and Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n \u201cThis success isn\u2019t just mine. It belongs to the whole team. We completed a very demanding training camp in the Sierra Nevada,\u201d he said. \u201cMy coach prepared me perfectly, and I had an excellent winter.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019m taking a step forward and gaining momentum. Today, the teamwork paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n Seixas\u2019 previous results include two stage wins and overall victory in the 2025 Tour de l\u2019Avenir, as well as third behind Poga\u010dar and Remco Evenepoel at the European championships.<\/p>\n He had a big reason to be motivated on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cMy parents and my girlfriend were there, and it was my father\u2019s birthday. During the toughest moments, especially in the Val d\u2019Enfer, I thought of them.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was extremely hard, but this victory is worth every bit of it.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s not due to ride Sunday\u2019s Faun Dr\u00f4me Classic, but Jorgenson is listed to take part. He\u2019ll hope for another strong showing and, with a little extra sharpness and with Seixas absent, may find things more to his liking.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"American Jorgenson witnesses young talent first hand, 19 year old Seixas wins Faun Ard\u00e8che with Poga\u010daresque solo.
Paul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[168574,49,48,635,54263,82,201910,201911,201912,81379,90610,54267],"class_list":["post-506747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-audio-true","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-parent_category-road","tag-sports","tag-tag-faun-ardeche-classic","tag-tag-jan-christen","tag-tag-lenny-martinez","tag-tag-matteo-jorgenson","tag-tag-paul-seixas","tag-type-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2264043723.jpg\"\/)
Paul Seixas (Team Decathlon CMA CGM) following his win in the Faun-Ardeche Classic (Photo: Billy Ceusters\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2264036923.jpg\"\/)
Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) was tailed by Jorgenson but not for too long (Photo: Billy Ceusters\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n