Perhaps the most highly anticipated Tour de France debut in decades is about to arrive on Saturday in Barcelona, as 19-year-old super talent Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) embarks on a journey into the unknown, a first Grand Tour with expectations that match the size of the furore which has followed him throughout 2026.
France has waited 45 years for a successor to Bernard Hinault, the last home winner in the men's race, and for many, Seixas is the rider who could finally bring the yellow jersey back to France.
As he arrived at the top riders' press conference on Thursday at the Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau, not something normally afforded to debutants – let alone the youngest starter for 89 years – Seixas took it all in his stride, though he is no normal new starter.
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While still a teenager, Seixas gives off little impression that the pressure of being the great French hope for the Tour is getting to him as he sat in a team-branded white shirt and chinos and fielded questions from the media in French and English.
On all accounts, he is ready, but the team time trial on stage 1 and punchy stage 2 finale to Montjuïc will be when the baptism of fire really begins. Ambitious but realistic is the overarching impression of Seixas' words, but will his actions be able to match when the chaos that is the Tour de France welcomes a new player?
"Of course, you have one part where you want to win, but now it's the Tour. It's a new experience at first for me," said the 19-year-old.
"You want to win something, you know you can, and you already did normally. First, I have to do the experience, and of course, there are different ways to win in a race like this. I will see how it goes, how I can perform, at which level in which place, and we'll see how we can call it a win or not."
In years gone by, other young French hopes might have targeted stage wins or the King of the Mountains jersey on debut, a logical stepping stone before becoming a fully-fledged GC rider. But it's safe to say Seixas is different once again; he's all in for the main objective.
"The priority is the manner of playing the GC, to see how it goes," he said. "After that, what position, I don't know yet, I can't tell you. But I will not take risks for something other than the GC. In any case, that depends on the situation."
Asked directly if there was anything he feared about making this debut, Seixas was measured once more in his response: "There's nothing special, I just need to see how I will recover after each stage, after 10-15 days, and we need to see how I can rest and recover. It's not about fearing; some days you can make mistakes, of course, and other days it will be complicated, but I will learn."
Following his crash and abandon from the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes last month, Seixas did hit a bump in the road to stardom he was flying down, having won La Flèche Wallonne and Itzulia Basque Country this season. He impressed behind heavy Tour favourite Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
He confirmed on Thursday that he is now fully recovered and also played down any questions of being over-eager after making the mistake which led to his crash on the penultimate stage of the renamed Dauphiné.
"At the beginning it was not easy, but now I'm doing well," said Sexias to two filled floors of international journalists. "I had nice, solid training a few days ago, and a good altitude camp at Les Arcs with the team, so I'm in good shape.
"No, it's not a topic, honestly. I think that to speak of impatience is perhaps a bit... I wouldn't say 'wacky' but almost. It was more in my race management that was different at the Dauphine. The crash was certainly an error on my part, but it wasn't a matter of impatience; it was just to try to position myself on the descent like any other rider. Mistakes happen, certainly, there is always impatience in a rider, but that shouldn't necessarily affect my style of racing."
As Seixas gets into the racing, statistics about his age will follow him throughout everything he does, good or bad, but the Frenchman knows that over three weeks, mistakes can happen and likely will happen, but he seems to be at peace with that.
"It's more about the fact it's my first Tour than my age or any statistics," he said. "I'll gain experience. It depends on the errors, but you can't be perfect and avoid all errors for three weeks - it's a long time."
Whether his debut can live up to all the expectations and pressure placed on him will become clear starting from Saturday, but with the maturity he has already shown throughout an imperfect build-up, Seixas appears to have the mental fortitude required of a Tour winner. The biggest question is whether he will have the legs.
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