Marc Madiot likens Paul Seixas to Bernard Hinault
Groupama-FDJ manager Marc Madiot has heaped praise on young Paul Seixas who rides for rival French WorldTeam Decathlon-AG2R, likening the 19-year-old to France's greatest ever cyclist.
"If you placed Bernard Hinault in today’s generation, he would have had the same abilities as Paul Seixas,” Madiot told CyclismActu.net. “That gives you an idea of his level. Riders today are better prepared, better trained, better educated. They’re ready to perform much younger."
It's praise of the highest order coming from Madiot whose career overlapped with the man who won the Tour de France five times, winning 28 stages along the way. Hinault was a rider known, even infamous, for his – sometimes literal – fighting spirit, and it's something Madiot sees in Seixas too.
"He has that attitude, that desire to win, that inner fire," Madiot went on. "That’s what sets champions apart. We don’t see that very often anymore."
