🎥 Decathlon Tour de France squad in good spirits as Seixas reassures fans after crash and trains with the team
CyclingThursday, 02 July 2026 at 10:22
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Follow us on GoogleOn Thursday morning, two days before the start of the 2026 Tour de France, L'Equipe went all out with Paul Seixas on the front page. “The French are on the edge of their seats this summer,” reads the caption beneath a portrait of the 19-year-old Frenchman in the sports newspaper. In the interview, Seixas cheerfully goes along with the hype.
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Seixas is excited about his first Grand Tour and his first Tour de France. The top talent has bounced back well from his crash in the Tour Auvergne-RhĂ´ne-Alpes and hopes to build on his excellent 2026 season so far at the Tour de France.
This season he has won the Faun-Ardèche Classic, the Tour of the Basque Country, and the Flèche Wallonne. He finished second in the Tour of the Algarve, Strade Bianche, and the Liége-Bastogne-Liége, and if he hadn’t crashed on the penultimate day of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, he would have been in contention for the win there as well.
Seixas arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday, where the Tour de France will kick off on July 4 with a team time trial. “Rest assured, everything is fine. I’m in top form,” Seixas told French cycling fans. “My latest training block has put my mind at ease.”
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Seixas is pleased to have Kooij as a sprinter in the Tour de France
Seixas is clearly not shying away from the enormous pressure on his shoulders. He and Decathlon CMA CGM are even taking it in stride, not shying away from questions about a possible overall victory in Paris. The French team genuinely believes Seixas has a shot at a top result.
The presence of Olav Kooij as a sprinter on the team can therefore be seen in both a positive and a negative light. On the climbs, Seixas loses some extra support because of the Dutchman, but: “The fact that he’s here with a small sprint train gives us an extra goal. It also takes some of the pressure off.”
With his lead-out riders Daan Hoole and Cees Bol, Kooij can go for a stage win, allowing Seixas to focus on the general classification. “Olav is a great guy. He’s motivated by the project and will help me whenever possible on days when there isn’t a sprint. We complement each other well.”
Watch the video of Paul Seixas and Decathlon teammates on a pre-Tour de France training ride
David Bavin-HobbsChief Editor
David has been working in the sports & cycling industry for 16 years. Covering racing, business and technology, he has worked in communications for cycling companies, teams, and as a journalist. His proudest achievement is winning the first bike race he ever entered. He hasn't won a race since.
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Latest Comments
- - Small detail the article missed: what about rain or sweat on the label? If the ink smears, that’s game over. Use pre-printed stickers or laminated wraps.samanthak27-09-2026
- - Great piece. Signs + bottles = redundancy. If they also use hand signals at the pit, Belgium might have the best comms of the day.cadencekingm27-09-2026
- - Pauwels joking about fake messages made me laugh. Imagine handing Remco a bottle that says “Attack now” on an odd lap and he actually goes. Qué locura, pero muy divertido, non?sprocketspiny27-09-2026
- - Feels like we’re overcomplicating. Radios make racing safer and clearer. The “boring race” argument is dated—modern Worlds are explosive anyway.gearguru3327-09-2026
- - So is the course a closed loop where they get a feed each lap? I don’t get how often riders can grab bottles at Worlds.bikebuffj27-09-2026
- - Wout saying he’s never raced this way before surprises me. Old school meets modern pro peloton. Could be the edge in a chaotic Montréal circuit.andrewf27-09-2026
- - Love the ingenuity. Remco’s right though—miss one bottle and you’ve missed a split-second call. Maybe pair the bottle with a staffer shouting codewords? “Plan B” “Green light” etc.robert6527-09-2026
- - How do they stop other teams reading the notes? If the message is on the bottle, wouldn’t everyone just see it when they pass the feed?velodromevirtuoso127-09-2026
- - Not sure this is safe tbh. That U23 bottle rolling near the cameraman proves the point. One stray bidon in a corner and you’ve got a pile-up. UCI should rethink the no-earpiece rule for Worlds.patriciaw27-09-2026
- - Clever from Belgium. Using bidons as mini whiteboards is simple and effective, especially on a circuit. If they rotate messages lap by lap, Wout and Remco can adapt quicker than teams relying only on roadside boards.lindae27-09-2026
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