Bernard Hinault has urged caution over a potential Tour debut this summer<\/a>. \u201cEveryone says he should ride the Tour… I\u2019m not convinced,\u201d he said, pointing to the very different demands of a three-week race.<\/p>\nThomas, however, is not convinced that keeping Seixas away from the Tour would reduce the scrutiny surrounding him. \u201cThat pressure is coming regardless,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe sooner he gets used to it, the faster he will learn to deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Geraint](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/761635422-67b48b58c4268.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Thomas knows all about Tour pressure having won the Maillot Jaune in 2018<\/p>\n
Learning to handle the spotlight<\/p>\n
For Thomas, the Tour is not just about performance but about exposure to the environment that will eventually define Seixas\u2019 career. \u201cThe most important thing is that the team tries to downplay it in the media,\u201d he reiterated, pointing to the need to control expectations around a rider already under intense scrutiny.<\/p>\n
He sees the current moment as a unique window in which Seixas can experience the race without the weight of expectation that will inevitably come later. \u201cRight now, nobody is disappointed if he doesn\u2019t win, but in a few years, that might be different,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n
That logic underpins his belief that early exposure could accelerate Seixas\u2019 development, particularly on the mental side. \u201cIf he learns to handle the pressure now, maybe he will be ready for it when a real performance is truly expected of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
A changing landscape behind Pogacar<\/p>\n
Thomas also placed Seixas\u2019 emergence within the wider context of the sport, particularly the dominance of Tadej Pogacar. \u201cTwelve months ago we thought nobody was going to beat Pogacar in the next five years, and then suddenly Seixas is here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That shift, in Thomas\u2019 view, may not be an isolated case. \u201cBehind Seixas there are more talents waiting that we know nothing about yet. There is a 17 year old out there somewhere that we don\u2019t even know exists, who might come knocking soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
He even suggested the landscape could change quickly again. \u201cI give it 18 months before someone else is even better. The more big challengers there are, the more motivated Pogacar will be. That is very good for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pressure building after Liege<\/p>\n
Seixas\u2019 second place at Liege-Bastogne-Liege has only intensified the conversation. After following Tadej Pogacar deeper into the race than any of his rivals and outperforming established contenders such as Remco Evenepoel, the 19 year old has moved from emerging talent to potential Grand Tour factor in the space of a single afternoon.<\/p>\n
That performance has amplified what was already a powerful narrative in France, the search for a genuine Tour de France contender for the first time since Bernard Hinault.<\/p>\n
While the debate continues externally, internally Decathlon CMA CGM Team are yet to confirm whether Seixas will ride the Tour this summer<\/a>. Performance director Jean Baptiste Quiclet has stressed that any decision will be based on long term development rather than short term momentum, with the team determined not to take unnecessary risks at this stage of the rider\u2019s career.<\/p>\nThat leaves Seixas at the centre of one of the sport\u2019s defining questions heading into the summer. Should he be protected from the Tour, or exposed to it?<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019 answer is clear. Let him ride. Just not to win.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thomas, now working as Director of Racing at INEOS Grenadiers, is also part of a set-up that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,117520,52530,52999,112065,101,6549,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-562490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-decathlon-cma-cgm-team","tag-geraint-thomas","tag-ineos-grenadiers","tag-paul-seixas","tag-sports","tag-tour-de-france","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562490","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=562490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}