Decathlon keep Paul Seixas's 2027 Grand Tour choice open: 'We'll see which Grand Tour he does'

Seixas has yet to decide which Grand Tours he will ride in 2027. The young Frenchman will take a few weeks off after his remarkable year before sitting down with Decathlon CMA CGM to plan his next season.

Julien Jurdie, who was Seixas's directeur sportif when he won Il Lombardia on Saturday, sketched the outline of 2027 in an interview with RMC Sport. The one-day races are clear. The stage race at the heart of the season is not.

Seixas' ambitions come off the back of a huge 2026. On Tour de France debut in July, Seixas finished fourth overall, almost 12 minutes behind Tadej Pogačar. He narrowly missed out on the final podium place and the white jersey to Isaac del Toro after trying to break clear on the final mountain stage and cracking on the Col de la Sarenne.

He was also second behind Pogačar at both Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, before riding clear on the Civiglio to become the youngest winner in the history of Il Lombardia.

Seixas has already made it clear he is aiming even higher, as he told La Gazzetta dello Sport, he's setting his sites on the very highest level in the sport.

The 2027 men's Worlds road race takes place on August 29 at Sallanches-Domancy-Pays du Mont-Blanc in Haute-Savoie, close to Seixas's home. The 265km course packs in 5,700m of climbing, including 20 laps over the Côte de Domancy, a 2.5km climb averaging 9.4%.

The Tour runs from July 2 to 25, finishing five weeks before the Worlds, while the Vuelta a España runs from September 4 to 26, starting just six days after the men's road race.

As Velora Cycling points out, a Tour podium bid followed by a strong result at the World Championships is possible but leaves a short turnaround. With a Vuelta campaign that begin less than a week after one of the biggest one-day races of his season, Seixas has some choices to make.

That leaves the Giro d'Italia, which runs from May 8 to 30. Velora Cycling considers it probably the most likely Grand Tour for Seixas in 2027, with a real shot at the podium and possibly the overall win. It would not be an easy route, though: Remco Evenepoel and Del Toro could potentially line up as well.

Choosing the Giro might mean skipping the Tour de France, a race Seixas has made his long-term priority. Not only has he called winning the Tour his lifetime goal, the idea that the biggest French rider from the biggest French team would skip the Tour seems implausible at best.

In France, the appetite for a Tour de France duel with Pogačar is already nearing fever pitch, and the comparisons between the two have sky rocketed. For now, Decathlon CMA CGM are keeping their options open, and the final call will wait until Seixas returns from his break.