Rookie season over after Lombardy? Not for Seixas, who wraps up 2025 with a crazy monster ride

As one of the most promising talents, Seixas turned professional with Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale in 2025. He already made an impression in the spring, when he finished fifth in the GP La Marseillaise in his season opener. In that same spring, he looked set to win the final stage of the Tour of the Alps, but he gave the victory to his teammate Nicolas Prodhomme.

A strong Dauphiné followed, in which he finished eighth in the final classification. He then won the Tour de l'Avenir, the most important race for U23 riders, before ending 2025 with thirteenth place in the Elite Road World Championships, third place in the Elite Road European Championships and seventh place in his first Tour of Lombardy.

This earned the top talent much praise from his home country. “There’s only one thing to say: hats off, really hats off. Who else would say that about a nineteen-year-old?" concluded French cycling icon Bernard Hinault, for example. In France, hopes seem to rest on Seixas to follow in the footsteps of the last French Tour winner.

Bernard Thévenet, another French cycling icon who won the Tour twice, had similar words to say “It’s been a long time since we’ve had a rider with this kind of potential. Now we can detect the potential of a young rider thanks to tests carried out at a very early stage, and his tests show something enormous. I don’t think we’ve seen that since Hinault.”

Fan favorite Thibaut Pinot was also impressed by Seixas. “For me, we haven't seen a phenomenon like this since Pogacar and Evenepoel. At his age, he may even be stronger than Pogacar. Pogacar finished third in the Vuelta in his first season and won three stages, but he was also two years older than Seixas.” So there is no shortage of praise.

Seixas had a very successful debut year among the pros, with the 19-year-old rider from Lyon completing 36 race days. His season lasted quite a long time, starting with the GP La Marseillaise in early February and ending with the Tour of Lombardy in mid-October, but Seixas clearly didn't have enough kilometers in his legs yet.

The young Frenchman decided to end his season with a monster training ride. Anyone who follows Seixas on Strava will have looked at his latest activity with astonishment. Without looking at the route in detail, the numbers alone are enough to make your jaw drop: 323 kilometers, more than 8,000 meters of elevation gain, and a total of 12 hours and 18 minutes on the bike.

If we do look at the route, we see a lot of familiar cols: Col des Saisies, Cormet de Roselend, Col du Petit Saint Bernard, Col du Grand Saint Bernard, Col de la Forclaz, Col des Montets and, to finish, the Côte des Amerands. The total is no less than 8186 (!) meters of elevation gain. He started at 3:06 AM local time, all by himself. Hats off, Paul!