{"id":572431,"date":"2026-05-08T05:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T05:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/572431\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T05:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T05:49:16","slug":"vingegaard-and-pogacar-arent-lying-awake-at-night-because-seixas-is-riding-the-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/572431\/","title":{"rendered":"Vingegaard and Pogacar aren’t lying awake at night because Seixas is riding the Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nSeixas now arrives at the Tour after a spring campaign that has rapidly pushed him into that wider conversation. The French teenager won La Fleche Wallonne<\/a>, dominated Itzulia Basque Country with three stage victories and the overall title, and finished second at both Strade Bianche and Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge. His performance at Li\u00e8ge in particular changed perceptions across the peloton. Seixas was the only rider capable of following Pogacar on La Redoute before eventually finishing second behind the world champion.\u201cTwo riders are one thing, three is something different\u201d<\/p>\n

Sorensen believes that level already makes Seixas tactically relevant in the biggest mountain stages, even if he is not yet being placed on the same level as Pogacar or Vingegaard overall. \u201cIf he rides the way he has been riding, and if he can maintain that in the second and third week, then he is within a short margin of them,\u201d Sorensen said. \u201cThen they will have to start thinking carefully. Two riders are one thing, three is something different. There is another team that can make things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

That idea could become increasingly important once the race reaches the mountains. Behind Pogacar and Vingegaard, the battle for the remaining podium place already looked crowded heading towards July. Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz and Juan Ayuso have all spent parts of the season establishing themselves as serious contenders.<\/p>\n

Evenepoel has already taken major victories in 2026 but still faces questions over his consistency in the very highest mountains. Lipowitz has quietly emerged as one of the peloton\u2019s most reliable stage racers, including finishing second behind Seixas at Itzulia Basque Country before later taking second at the Tour de Romandie behind Pogacar. Ayuso meanwhile has shown flashes of elite form, but crashes and illness disrupted much of his spring campaign. Into that already intense battle now steps Seixas.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe rides like he has been professional for ten years\u201d<\/p>\n

Sorensen admitted he initially questioned whether sending a 19-year-old to the Tour was the correct decision. After watching Seixas throughout the spring however, the Dane completely changed his position. \u201cAt the start of the year, I thought it might actually be smart if he did not ride it in his first year as a 19-year-old. But after seeing him completely dominate the races he has ridden, I have radically changed my mind,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

The former Monument winner also pointed to the Frenchman\u2019s maturity within races as one of the clearest signs that Seixas is not developing like a normal teenager.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen how he races, and he rides as if he has already been a professional for ten years,\u201d Sorensen said. \u201cHe positions himself correctly in the peloton, makes no mistakes and wins by large margins. In the Tour of the Basque Country, which is an incredibly difficult race, they were nowhere near him. And then he almost managed to stay with Pogacar all the way. He wins Fl\u00e8che Wallonne. What we are seeing is unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

That does not mean Sorensen believes Seixas is about to win the Tour immediately. \u201cPhysically, I don\u2019t think he will struggle,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m almost ready to say already that he will win the Tour de France one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hype surrounding the Frenchman has exploded over recent months, but Sorensen\u2019s analysis ultimately lands somewhere more nuanced. He is not predicting Seixas will immediately dethrone Pogacar or Vingegaard this summer. He is suggesting something potentially just as significant for the future of the Tour de France: the sport may already have found the next rider capable of eventually joining them at the top of cycling\u2019s biggest race.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seixas now arrives at the Tour after a spring campaign that has rapidly pushed him into that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,9046,112065,101,8782,6549,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-572431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-jonas-vingegaard","tag-paul-seixas","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tour-de-france","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572431","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=572431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}