Seixas records more monster numbers and bags Tourmalet KOM at Tour de France training camp

While the brutal final week of the Giro d'Italia is in full swing, Paul Seixas is busy preparing for his Tour debut. The teenage Frenchman is on altitude camp with his Decathlon CMA CGM team-mates, and he has definitely not been taking it easy. His hard training is visible on Strava.

Seixas caused a huge surprise this spring, not only with his superb performances in the Tour of the Basque Country, Strade Bianche, the Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but above all with the announcement that the 19-year-old Frenchman will make his debut in his home Grand Tour.

There had already been plenty of speculation beforehand about whether it was the right decision to throw such a young rider in at the deep end on home soil, but Decathlon CMA CGM have still decided to line Seixas up. He is now on training camp as preparation, after which he will head to the Tour Auvergne - Rhône - Alpes, formerly the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Training alongside team-mates Leo Bisiaux, Matthew Riccitello, Nicolas Prodhomme, Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Stefan Bissegger, the Frenchman has not exactly been taking it easy. Over twelve training days, the young talent covered around 1,500 kilometres with no fewer than 37,000 metres of climbing.

The elevation gain is particularly striking. For comparison, Jonas Vingegaard will ride roughly 49,000 metres of climbing in the Giro, although that is spread across almost twice as many days. Seixas is therefore working hard in his build-up to the great adventure that is the Tour de France. Where he will finish is still anyone’s guess.

First, he will have to line up against other top talents such as Isaac Del Toro, Oscar Onley and Juan Ayuso in the Tour Auvergne - Rhône - Alpes. The French stage race starts on 7 June and finishes on 14 June. His first test for the French Grand Tour hopeful will come there.

Just under a week into his training camp, Seixas's legs are still unstoppable. The Frenchman is testing his legs a week before the Tour Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes, and he is doing so with gusto. Over the past few days, he kept toiling away in the Pyrenees, and that yielded astonishing results. For instance, he crammed 7,000 vertical meters into about 210 kilometers, spread over two days.

On day one, in about 136 kilometers, he packed in the Col d'Aspin and the Col du Tourmalet twice. On the second day, last Sunday, he tackled the Tourmalet again. Twice, in fact: first from the northeastern side, only to turn around after a while and ride up the pass from the western side. And how: in the Luz St Saveur - Super Barreges segment, he was the absolute fastest on Strava. He covered 10.11 kilometers in 25 minutes and 25 seconds, a full 35 seconds faster than Lenny Martinez's previous KOM, set in last year's Tour de France.

The mythical pass, known as the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, is on the Tour's schedule again this year. And early on: in the sixth stage, the riders will cover 4,000 vertical meters over 186 kilometers, with the summit of the Tourmalet, just under forty kilometers from the finish, acting as the decisive factor. Seixas will be ready for it, as he set his KOM on the side they will climb in July.