{"id":548180,"date":"2026-04-24T11:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/548180\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T11:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:35:07","slug":"if-paul-seixas-isnt-ready-for-the-tour-de-france-then-who-is-oliver-naesen-backs-19-year-old-teammate-for-debut-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/548180\/","title":{"rendered":"‘If Paul Seixas isn’t ready for the Tour de France, then who is?\u2019 \u2013 Oliver Naesen backs\u00a019-year-old teammate for debut this summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Paul Seixas<\/a> continues to move through the gears at an astonishing rate, the question over the possibility of a Tour de France<\/a> debut this summer is only growing louder, and he has a voice of support from within his own team in the shape of Oliver Naesen.<\/p>\n

The Tour was not on Seixas’ original schedule, but following a highly promising debut season in the professional ranks last year, the 19-year-old Frenchman has well and truly broken out in 2026.<\/p>\n

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He has seven wins to his name already, wiping the floor with a high-class field at Itzulia Basque Country<\/a> earlier this month before taking out La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne on Wednesday to set up a blockbuster battle with Tadej Poga\u010dar, Remco Evenepoel, and Tom Pidcock at Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

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For Naesen, a Decathon CMA CGM<\/a> stalwart and road captain, there is no reason why Seixas should not be fast-tracked to the start line of the 2026 Tour de France in Barcelona in July.<\/p>\n

“My opinion is just what it is \u2013 the team will decide ultimately \u2013 but I mean, this question about him maybe not being ready for it\u2026 If he\u2019s not ready, then who is ready? That\u2019s the question, you know. He’s 100% ready to go to the Tour,” Naesen told Cyclingnews.<\/p>\n

Opinion has been divided on whether Seixas should go to the Tour. The race comes with the spotlight of the biggest cycling race in the world, one that’s especially bright for such a talent from the host country, which hasn\u2019t celebrated a men’s home winner since Bernard Hinault in 1985.<\/p>\n

Sean Kelly pleaded patience<\/a> in a recent column for Cyclingnews, but Naesen doesn’t buy into the idea that the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a might offer a gentler introduction to Grand Tour racing \u2013 in fact, he says, the opposite might be true.<\/p>\n

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\u201cImagine they don’t send him there, and he goes to, let’s say, the Vuelta, and he finishes maybe fifth or something,” Naesen said.<\/p>\n

“Again, this is purely my opinion, but let’s say he finishes fifth in the Vuelta, then next year you can’t go to the Tour and finish ninth on GC, and everybody is happy.<\/p>\n

“Whereas, if this year he goes to the Tour, wins a stage, and finishes ninth on GC. \u2029We will all be like, ‘Oh, nice, man.’ So that is how I would do it if I were the boss, but yeah, I’m not the boss.”<\/p>\n

Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We’ll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Amstel Gold Race, La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne, and Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge. Find out more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Paul Seixas continues to move through the gears at an astonishing rate, the question over the possibility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-548180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548180","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=548180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}