France’s Cycling Hope Paul Seixas Announces Tour de France Entry

French prodigy Paul Seixas set for first Tour de France Ride

Paul Seixas confirmed his Tour de France debut on Monday, becoming one of the youngest French riders to enter the race in decades.

Seixas announced he’ll ride the Tour de France for the first time, sparking talk of a French breakthrough in 2026...

French cycling talent Paul Seixas confirmed on Monday that he’ll make his Tour de France debut in July, sparking hope that France might see a home winner for the first time in over 40 years. 

It’s been since 1985 that a French rider last took the Tour title, when Bernard Hinault matched the record with his fifth overall victory.

“It is my childhood dream, something I’ve often dreamed about, and now it’s so close,” Seixas said in a statement released by his Decathlon CMA CGM team.

  

The 19-year-old has been in exceptional form this season, claiming seven wins and taking Tadej Pogacar close at Liege-Bastogne-Liege just last week in the Monument classic.

  

So far this year Seixas has contested two week-long stage races and four one-day classics, and he hasn’t finished outside the top two in any of them.  

He made clear he isn’t treating the Tour as a learning exercise, saying he’s not going just to gain experience.

“My results since the start of the season have given me a lot of confidence - I feel ready, and I will have ambitious objectives,” he added.

At 19, Seixas will be the youngest starter in the Tour in 89 years when the race gets underway in Barcelona on July 4. 

Decathlon shared a video on social media showing him visiting his grandparents in the eastern Haut-Savoie area, not far from his hometown of Lyon.

“I’ve come here to announce to you something special, I have a race in July,” he tells his grandparents, before they guess that he is talking about the Tour.

"J’ai quelque chose à vous annoncer…"

"I have something to tell you..."#DECATHLONCMACGMTEAM - @Decathlon @cmacgm @van_rysel pic.twitter.com/kcKzR4hBIo

— DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM (@decathloncmacgm) May 4, 2026

Questions over whether Seixas would ride cycling’s biggest race have been swirling for weeks, and his recent results have only made that speculation grow stronger.

Is It Too Early for Seixas at the Tour?

Many analysts think Seixas is jumping in too soon for the 3,333 km, three-week race that features eight mountain stages, five of them summit finishes. 

This will mark his first grand tour and the longest event he’s ever ridden, with his previous races maxing out at eight days. 

Yet he’s risen to every other test thrown his way this season.

“If he’s not ready, then who is ready?” his Belgian teammate Oliver Naesen told Cyclingnews last month.  

“He’s 100 per cent ready to go to the Tour.”

But Marc Madiot, sporting director at rival French squad Groupama-FDJ United, thinks it would be a mistake for the young rider to line up so soon.

“When you ride the Tour de France... you enter into a washing machine which wears you down, which devours you day after day,” he added.

And in four-time winner Pogacar, Seixas will be up against “someone who destroys his rivals mentally one after another, even his own teammates.”

Outpacing Pogacar’s Record at the Same Age

Seixas’s second year as a pro has been remarkable. 

He opened the season with a second-place finish at the Tour of the Algarve, then took victory at the Ardeche Classic. 

After finishing runner-up to Pogacar at Strade Bianche, he won the Tour of the Basque Country and Fleche Wallonne, before placing second again at Liege. 

Along the way he claimed one stage in the Algarve and three in the Basque Country. 

 

Paul Seixas isn’t just lining up at the Tour for the thrill of it 👀

Can the Frenchman challenge Pogacar and Vingegaard? pic.twitter.com/KDrmnPX02P

— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) May 4, 2026

At WorldTour level he’s already won a one-day classic and a stage race.

Pogacar was 20 when he claimed his first WorldTour stage race, and 22 before he took a one-day classic at that level.  

Seixas is even ahead of Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who won a WorldTour one-day classic at 19 but had to wait until the next year for his first stage race victory at that level. 

Pogacar placed third in his debut Grand Tour at the 2019 Vuelta a España, then won the Tour de France on his first try the year after.  

Evenepoel didn’t finish his first Grand Tour, the 2021 Giro d’Italia, but matched Pogacar by winning his second, the 2022 Vuelta.