Paul Seixas
 Seixas in 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 24 September 2006 Lyon, France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 59 kg (130 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current team | Decathlon CMA CGM Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline |
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| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rider type | All-rounder | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amateur teams | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021–2023 | VC Villefranche Beaujolais | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023–2024 | AG2R Citroën U19 Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | La Motte–Servolex Cyclisme U19[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Professional team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2025– | Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Major wins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stage races | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Paul Seixas (born 24 September 2006) is a French road cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Decathlon CMA CGM Team.[2][3] He won the junior time trial at the 2024 UCI Road World Championships.[4] Subsequent victories as a Junior, including the 2025 Tour de l'Avenir, and performances in his first two years as a professional cyclist, including being the youngest rider ever to finish in the top 10 of a UCI World Tour stage race at 2025 Critérium du Dauphiné, have led him to be described as "the next great talent" of professional cycling. [5]
Early years
[edit]Born in Lyon, both of his parents, Emmanuel and Emmanuelle Seixas, were competitive karate athletes, his father having been runner-up in the French national championships.[6] Seixas became interested in cycling watching it with his grandfather on French television.
Paul began riding aged 8 with a local cycling club, Lyon Sprint Évolution (LSE). He was described as absent-minded and shy by his teachers, but he quickly succeeded in cycling, winning numerous age-range categories between 9 and 14 with LSE. He then moved to Anse in 2021 and joined the Vélo Club Villefranche Beaujolais (VCVB).[7]
Cycling career
[edit]Junior career
[edit]Seixas was French national Cadets (under-17) champion in both the road (2021) and Cyclo-cross (2022) disciplines. [8][9]
In 2023, aged 16, he joined the AG2R Citroën U19 and competed in the Junior category for the first time. He won four races, including sixth in the Junior European Cyclo-Cross championships.[10] Subsequently in 2024, still aged just 17, he won a notable number of junior titles and races: Liege-Bastogne-Liege Juniors, the French national Junior titles in Cyclo-Cross and Time-Trial, and taking third in the European Junior Time-Trial.[10] At the 2024 UCI Road World Championships he won gold in the time-trial, and finished seventh in the road-race.[11] The Worlds win brought him to global attention for the first time, [12] and he subsequently turned professional with Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale. [11]
2025: Debut season
[edit]
Seixas made his professional debut at the 2025 Grand Prix La Marseillaise, and his UCI World Tour debut subsequently at the 2025 UAE Tour.[10][13] He took his first professional podium with second at Paris-Camembert, [14] and the points jersey at the Tour of the Alps. [14] It was his performance at the 2025 Critérium du Dauphiné which raised further the hype around Seixas' potential, with him taking an eighth place in the prestigious week-long stage race. [15][14] He went on to win the 2025 Tour de l'Avenir, the Junior equivalent of the Tour de France,[16] raising further his profile as a potential Tour winner. Skipping the Junior category, he won medals at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships and 2025 European Road Championships: a silver in the Mixed team relay at the former, and a bronze in the Men's road race at the latter. [14][16] He finished the season taking seventh in Il Lombardia, making him the youngest rider in over 100 years to finish in the top 10 of a Monument.[17] It was at this point that commentators started noting that, in France in particular, the hype around Seixas was building dramatically, with warnings about rising expectations.[14][16]
2026: First successes
[edit]
The 2026 season marked Seixas's definitive breakthrough on the world professional cycling stage. His early-season programme, was built around a gradual progression towards the main objectives in the spring: Strade Bianche and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. [18] On 19 February, Seixas claimed his first professional victory on stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve, winning atop the Alto da Fóia ahead of João Almeida and Juan Ayuso. [10] He finished the Portuguese race in second place overall.[10]
Just ten days later, on 28 February, he won the Faun-Ardèche Classic with a solo breakaway of over 40 km, in a style commentators immediately likened to that of Tadej Pogačar.[19] At Strade Bianche on 7 March, Seixas was the only rider to attempt to follow Pogačar's attack 79 km from the finish; he was eventually dropped but managed to distance Isaac del Toro in the final kilometre, to finish second.[5] By this point, Seixas was being described as "the next great talent" after the dominant Pogačar. [5] April 2026 brought Seixas' first World Tour stage race win with the overall and three stages at the Tour of the Basque Country, and his first World Tour one day race win at La Flèche Wallonne.[10]
Major results
[edit]Road
[edit]- 2023
- 1st
Overall Tour du Pays d'Olliergues
- 1st
Mountains classification - 1st
Young rider classification - 1st Stages 1 & 3
- 1st
- 1st Trofeo Guido Dorigo
- 2nd Overall Tour du Valromey
- 1st
Points classification - 1st Young rider classification
- 1st
- 2nd Overall Watersley Junior Challenge
- 1st Young rider classification
- 1st
- 2nd La Classique des Alpes Juniors
- 3rd Overall Eroica Juniores
- 1st Young rider classification
- 1st
- 4th Overall Saarland Trofeo
- 1st
Young rider classification
- 1st
- 5th Coppa Andrea Meneghelli
- 6th Overall Tour de Gironde
- 1st
Young rider classification
- 1st
- 8th E3 Saxo Classic Juniors
- 2024
- UCI World Junior Championships
- 1st
Time trial - 7th Road race
- 1st
- National Junior Championships
- 1st
Time trial - 1st Team relay
- 3rd Road race
- 1st
- 1st Overall Giro della Lunigiana
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Mountains classification
- 1st Stage 1
- 1st
- 1st Overall Tour du Pays de Vaud
- 1st Stage 3
- 1st Liège–Bastogne–Liège Juniors
- 1st La Classique des Alpes Juniors
- 1st La Classic Région Sud Juniors
- 2nd Overall Tour du Valromey
- 1st
Mountains classification - 1st Stage 5
- 1st
- 3rd
Road race, UEC European Junior Championships - 3rd Overall Trophée Centre Morbihan
- 6th Overall Eroica Juniores
- 1st Mountains classification
- 1st
- 2025
- 1st Overall Tour de l'Avenir
- 1st Young rider classification
- 1st Prologue & Stage 6b (ITT)
- 1st
- 1st Points classification, Tour of the Alps
- 2nd
Team relay, UCI World Championships - 2nd Paris–Camembert
- 3rd Road race, UEC European Championships
- 3rd Time trial, National Championships
- 5th Grand Prix La Marseillaise
- 7th Giro di Lombardia
- 8th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné
- 2026 (7 pro wins)
- 1st Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Mountains classification
- 1st
Young rider classification - 1st Stages 1 (ITT), 2 & 5
- 1st
- 1st La Flèche Wallonne
- 1st Ardèche Classic
- 2nd Overall Volta ao Algarve
- 1st Young rider classification
- 1st Stage 2
- 1st
- 2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège
- 2nd Strade Bianche
General classification results timeline
[edit]| Grand Tour general classification results | |||||||
| Grand Tour | 2025 | 2026 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia
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— | — | |||||
| Tour de France
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— | ||||||
| Vuelta a España
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— | ||||||
| Major stage race general classification results | |||||||
| Major stage race | 2025 | 2026 | |||||
 Paris–Nice
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— | — | |||||
 Tirreno–Adriatico
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— | — | |||||
 Volta a Catalunya
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— | — | |||||
| Tour of the Basque Country
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— | 1 | |||||
| Tour de Romandie
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— | — | |||||
 Critérium du Dauphiné
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8 | ||||||
| Tour de Suisse
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— | — | |||||
Classics results timeline
[edit]| Monument | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Milan–San Remo | — | — |
| Tour of Flanders | — | — |
| Paris–Roubaix | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | 2 |
| Giro di Lombardia | 7 | |
| Classic | 2025 | 2026 |
| Strade Bianche | — | 2 |
| La Flèche Wallonne | — | 1 |
| Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec | — | |
| Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
Cyclo-cross
[edit]- 2022–2023
- 1st Overall Swiss Junior Cup
- 1st Steinmaur
- 1st Hittnau
- 3rd Mettmenstetten
- 1st Junior Bulle
- 1st Junior Orée d'Anjou
- 1st Junior Dijon
- Junior Coupe de France
- 2nd Troyes I
- 2023–2024
- 1st National Junior Championships
- Swiss Junior Cup
- 1st Mettmenstetten
- 3rd Steinmaur
- 1st Junior Brionne
- 2nd Junior Illnau
- Junior Coupe de France
- 3rd Quelneuc I
- 3rd Albi I
- 3rd Albi II
- UCI Junior World Cup
- 3rd Namur
References
[edit]- ^ "Paul Seixas". firstcycling.com. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
- ^ "Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team". UCI. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
- ^ "Paul Seixas". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
- ^ "UCI World Championships: Paul Seixas wins junior men's time trial for France". Cycling News. 23 September 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
- ^ a b c "Pogačar Is Stronger Than Ever, But Seixas Isn't Far Behind: Strade Bianche Power Analysis". Velo. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ^ "Paul Seixas : origine portugaise et parents Emmanuel et Emmanuelle, le soutien d'une famille sportive". Actustars. Retrieved 7 April 2026.
- ^ Mercier, Romain. "Paul Seixas : l'espoir du cyclisme français étudie dans une grande école". Le Figaro. Retrieved 7 April 2026.
- ^ "Championnat de France - Cadets - Épreuves" (in French). DirectVelo. 2024-05-05. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
- ^ Gachet, N. "C - Championnat de France - Cadets : Classement". Direct Velo. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ^ a b c d e f "Paul Seixas Results". First Cycling. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ^ a b Fortheringham, Alasdair. "UCI World Championships: Paul Seixas wins junior men's time trial for France". Cycling News. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ^ Wood, Kieran. "New French super climber wins junior time-trial worlds: "Today a dream became a reality. It's f*cking insane"". Cycling Uptodate. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ^ "Il faut y aller petit à petit et ne pas le cramer » : Paul Seixas, une pépite bien accompagnée pour ses grands débuts en World Tour". L'Equipe. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ^ a b c d e Whittle, Jeremy. "Rising French Star Paul Seixas Confirms the Hype: 'We've Yet to See His Limits'". Velo. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ^ "He finished eighth at the Dauphiné, but here's why Paul Seixas won't be racing the Tour de France". Cycling News. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ^ a b c Boermans, Hendrik. "From Hinault to Pinot and Thévenet to Bardet: All of France praises Seixas, but the inevitable question arises". IDL ProCycling. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ^ Price, Matilda. "19-year-old Paul Seixas becomes youngest rider in 100 years to finish top 10 in a men's Monument – but still 'a bit disappointed' with Il Lombardia debut". Cycling News. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
- ^ Stuart, Peter. "'All scenarios are possible' – French prodigy Paul Seixas plots Strade and Liège assault at 19". Velora.
- ^ Weislo, Laura. "Faun-Ardèche Classic: Young Frenchman imitates Tadej Pogačar by annihilating stacked field with long-range solo move". Cycling News. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
External links
[edit]- Paul Seixas at UCI
- Paul Seixas at ProCyclingStats
- Paul Seixas at Cycling Quotient
- Paul Seixas at InterSportStats
| UCI Road World Champions – Men's junior time trial | |
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