French President Emmanuel Macron followed stage 6 of the Tour de France and took time to speak with Paul Seixas at the finish, trying to convince the 19-year-old super talent to stay with a French team.
Bernard Hinault was the last French Tour winner in 1985, but Seixas seems to have the talent to win the Tour for France after the Tadej Pogačar era ends. Decathlon CMA CGM hope Seixas will extend his contract with the French team beyond 2027, but UAE, Netcompany Ineos, Visma-Lease a Bike, and others have been courting him in the hopes of winning the Tour with a French rider.
Reports emerged in April that Macron was using his soft power in sport to convince Seixas to stay with Decathlon. Four years ago, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez suggested that Macron had used his power of influence to convince soccer player Kylian Mbappé to stay with Paris Saint-Germain for an extra year before moving to Spain.
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At the Tour, Macron spoke with Seixas near the podium in Gavarnie-Gèdre. According to the RMC radio channel, Macron told Paul Seixas that he should stay with a French team. Cyclingnews has verified this report with a source who witnessed the talks.
"He's on a good team," Macron told French television, adding that Seixas and fellow French rider Lenny Martinez are currently eighth and ninth in the GC.
"We have high hopes. I think he can still achieve great things. What they did is magnificent. I believe there are two French riders in the top ten, both were extraordinary. They managed their race very well," Macron said.
"After the Dauphiné (the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes), which had worried us a bit in recent days, he's delivered," Macron said of Seixas. "I hope he wins one or more stages and maintains this good GC position, and even goes higher."
Macron also revealed that Pogačar tipped Seixas as a future Tour winner. "Tadej had a few very kind words; he said: 'You'll see, next it will be Seixas,'" Macron revealed.
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