Seixas is entering uncharted territory at the Tour – 'he has never done more than eight stages'
Paul Seixas remains one of the biggest talking points of the 2026 Tour de France. So far, after eight completed stages, the 19-year-old Frenchman has held his own, losing time here and there to Tadej Pogačar – just like everybody else – while avoiding a bad day. Seixas goes into stage 9 sixth in the overall standings and within half a minute of the podium, but he's now entering a new phase at his debut Grand Tour.
"We are entering completely new territory,” Decathlon-CMA CGM sports director Julien Jurdie told Cyclism'Actu on the eve of stage 9. “Tomorrow is the ninth stage and he has never done more than eight stages in his young career. We must remember that he is only 19 years old.
“We are going to discover a new world with him. We will help him and make sure everything goes well. There is no reason why it should not, but we still need to be careful.”
Before the Tour, the longest race Seixas had completed was the 2025 Critérium du Dauphiné where he finished eighth overall. Most debutants at their first Grand Tour would be praised simply for getting round, but expectations are high for the wunderkind, who has so far exceeded normal expectations.
"I do not know whether normal is the right word,” he said. “At 19 years old, he is sixth overall in the Tour de France. He finished fifth on a Pyrenean stage and fourth on another stage earlier in the Tour.
“There is nothing normal about what Paul Seixas is doing.”
