the Frenchman Paul Seixas starts hard by winning the prologue of the Tour de l'Avenir

The 18 -year -old runner, a favorite of the event, took the leader's jersey from the first day, a three -kilometer coast prologue in Tignes.

He knows he is expected, and here he is already in yellow. Paul Seixas, a great promise of French cycling, won the prologue of the Tour de l'Avenir, the “Tour de France under 23” disputed in national selections, in Tignes, on Saturday August 23. The 18 -year -old French went to get the best time at the end of this three -kilometer prologue, disputed in Côte in Tignes (Savoie), In 7'19''14, seven tenths better than his runner -up, the Italian Lorenzo Finn.

The differences are logically weak over such a short distance, but Paul Seixas has notably gleaned eight seconds on Jorgen Nordhagen (Norway), nine on Jarno Widar (Belgium) and 14 on Pablo Torres (Spain), its main rivals to come in the mountains. He became the first tricolor to win a stage on this race since Romain Grégoire, in 2022.

The Decathlon runner Agr2-La Mondiale, who went directly from the junior category to the professional world this year without stopping with the hopes, therefore advances well as the man to beat, he who had already been in June the youngest runner in history to finish in the top 10 of the Critérium du Dauphiné (8th). Already a yellow jersey, Paul Seixas could keep the tunic for a moment and that stages for backpackers and sprinters are coming before the decisive mountain stages, Thursday and Friday.