Winner of the Tour de l'Avenir, Paul Seixas is part of the biggest and meets expectations

By winning the tour of the future, Friday, the young Frenchman succeeds Tadej Pogacar, Egan Bernal, Nairo Quintana, or David Gaudu, winners a few years earlier.

He was the big favorite, and met expectations. Despite the increased pressure that weighs on his shoulders, Paul Seixas did not flank and won the tour of the future, Friday August 29, with 40 seconds ahead of his first pursuer, the Belgian Jarno Widar. The Lyonnais had said that this race would probably be the only one in the hopes category he would compete in his career, he who has already played with ease in World Tour (the world elite), and who will be at the center of the project of his team Decathlon-CMA CGM for the next few years.

It had to be seen, on the Critérium du Dauphiné, in June, follow the group of favorites every day, composed, among others, of Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel. At 18, soon to be 19 (September 24), Paul Seixas had impressed for his first World Tour race, becoming the youngest runner in history to finish in the top 10 of the race (8th). But as a thoughtful and well surrounded boy, he himself recognized that participating in the Tour de France in stride “would not be supposed”. His team preferred to make him validate other levels, such as this tour of the future, while knowing that the future, precisely, will go through him.

Because if the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale team, Future Decathlon-CMA CGM, repeats which journalist wants it to be put in pressure, it is its general manager, Dominique Serieys, himself, who said that the team's project to win the Tour de France by 2030 “will turn around him and will be focused around him”, at RMC Sport. It must be said that with his most experienced teammates, the young man is already unanimous. “Working for an 18 -year -old guy is impressive. Me, at his age, I was in the second category and I did not advance much. It could be my childlaunched Bruno Armirail, 31, on the Dauphiné. It's been weird, but he deserves that we work for him, because he shows that he is strong. He's a very good climber, he stands very well, so it promises “.

Very good climber and specialist in the time trial, testify to his third place at the last French championships and his title of junior world champion in the exercise, the young Frenchman has everything to compete, in the coming years, with the best runners on the planet. “He is a fantastic kid, he is also very reportful in the group and runs really well. I think it's a big machine and if there is not too much pressure on the part of the French media on him, he will be very successful”predicts Tadej Pogacar, questioned about it by Franceinfo: Sport.

“He has great potentialConfirm Remco Evenepoel. When you are young, you don't feel too much efforts as you feel them a few years later. He is very motivated, he works well, so I wish him many good things. He must remain calm and not too much aim for the guys who are in front, because for the moment they are extraordinary. You have to focus on itself and little by little it will get there “.

That's good, the young Frenchman is not one to ignite. “He is someone who does not take the lead even if people talk about him. He is a guy who wants to show on the bike, and who remains calm”claim his friends Diego Charnay and Cyprien Maisson, themselves runners in a national elite, and with whom Paul Seixas sometimes goes on vacation in the mountains, to roll, as always. “I am aware of that (expectations around him), Because it is part of the sport and a career. Maybe there will one day be less good times, less good performances (…) But you should never lose sight of the goals and you have to know how to question yourself. I know that I will still progress and especially that I still have a long way to do “he said in the columns of The team before the tour of the future.

After wearing the jersey of the French Hopes team on the tour of the future, could his apprenticeship continue with the jersey of the French elite team soon? The world championships in Rwanda are looming with a profile intended for climbers, and given the current competition within French cycling, it would not be completely incongruous that Thomas Voeckler selects it. “He is stunning (…) It is clear that we have not seen this such potential in a Frenchman for a very long time (…) He is part of my reflection (…) I am not telling you that he will undoubtedly be in the French team this year but I do not exclude him either “said the national coach in progress in July.