{"id":456677,"date":"2026-03-04T07:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/456677\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T07:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:28:13","slug":"france-is-already-buckling-under-seixas-mania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/456677\/","title":{"rendered":"France is already buckling under Seixas-mania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Seixas<\/a> showed unbelievable things in the Faun-Ard\u00e8che Classic. The Frenchman demolished a very strong field with a stunning solo<\/a>, underlining that he truly is an exceptional talent. The 19-year-old wonderkid already had a big reputation in France, but expectations are now starting to run a little wild.Marc Madiot<\/a> is already putting Seixas among the very best riders in the world. \u201cFor me, he\u2019s already in the top five or six in the world,\u201d he told RMC Sport<\/a>. \u201cWe have Tadej Poga\u010dar, Isaac Del Toro, Jonas Vingegaard, Paul Seixas, Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel. In the peloton, we have the ability to sense the balance of power \u2014 and he has already shown that balance of power.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the former Groupama\u2013FDJ boss, the young Frenchman can already be compared with the very greatest \u2014 not only in cycling. \u201cSeixas has something that others don\u2019t have, or that only a few have, like Poga\u010dar. Messi also had something others didn\u2019t have when he started playing football. For now, we\u2019re not seeing any weaknesses in Seixas. He has everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madiot is not holding back. \u201cI think he\u2019s the chosen one. He\u2019s the rider France expects to win the Tour. And also the rider of \u2018old Europe\u2019. Poga\u010dar is Slovenian \u2014 in a way, he\u2019s an alien from another world. In cycling, we\u2019re rooted in history: the Italians, the Belgians, the Spaniards\u2026 In that sense, Seixas is the Messiah. That\u2019s what is expected of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\"paul-seixas\"\/Comparisons with Poga\u010dar and Hinault: \u2018Only natural\u2019Former pro J\u00e9r\u00f4me Pineau also cannot stop talking about Seixas. In his view, comparisons with Poga\u010dar are fully justified. \u201cHe attacked like Tadej Poga\u010dar. He explained his strategy perfectly; it was crystal clear. He wanted to do it \u2014 and he did it. The others didn\u2019t stand a chance; they were left behind. All of them, one by one.\u201dThose comparisons are not coming out of nowhere: Seixas has already matched what Poga\u010dar did at the European Championships in a race held on the same roads<\/a>. But in France, it goes beyond comparing him to the sport\u2019s current superstar. Many are looking deep into the past to find a French rider of this level at such an age. \u201cSince Bernard Hinault, no Frenchman has dominated the sport like Paul Seixas is doing now \u2014 certainly not at his age.\u201dThis winter, stories <\/a>were already swirling around Seixas: rumours of extremely long training days, and a rider who locked himself away to prepare as well as possible for the new season. \u201cYou can feel it \u2014 mentally he\u2019s in a great place, he has a rock-solid team around him, he knows exactly what he wants, and he handles pressure really well. It just slides off him. Well, it will be what it will be: one of the very best riders of his generation, behind a few giants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pineau even believes the expectations could be pushed higher still. \u201cWe very quickly expect Paul Seixas to be a podium contender \u2014 and then a contender to win the Tour de France. That\u2019s only natural. If he were Spanish or Italian, I think we\u2019d make even more of it, because we tend to be very cautious,\u201d the Frenchman concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Seixas showed unbelievable things in the Faun-Ard\u00e8che Classic. The Frenchman demolished a very strong field with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,164626,119101,112065,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-456677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-decathlon-cma-cgm","tag-marc-madiot","tag-paul-seixas","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}