It’s official: Paul Seixas will compete in the 2026 Tour de France (July 4-26). The Decathlon CMA CGM team announced Monday that the 19-year-old French cyclist will make his debut in the race, becoming the youngest debutant in the event since Adrien Cento in 1937.
The team shared the news via social media with a video showing Seixas telling his grandparents: “I’m here to share some exciting news with you. Next July I’ll be doing a race: the Tour de France.” His grandparents reacted with emotional hugs after hearing the announcement.
In statements collected by Decathlon CMA CGM, Seixas expressed his ambition: “I am truly very happy to announce that I will participate in the next Tour de France. It has been my childhood dream, something I have imagined many times, and now it is very close. I am only 19 years old, but as I always say, age is not an obstacle or an excuse. This decision, made in consensus with the team management, has been carefully considered and developed collectively over recent days. My results since the start of the season have given me great confidence, and I feel ready and will have ambitious objectives. It is not in my mind or in my way of seeing cycling to line up at the Tour de France just to gain experience, so I will fight for the best possible classification.”
Seixas will thus make his Grand Tour debut in the Tour de France, a race where he will try to shine but where the great French hope must also handle the pressure of bringing the Tour back to France 41 years after Bernard Hinault’s victory in 1985. The Tour adds a new contender to the rivalry between Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, and Remco Evenepoel, especially after Seixas has already shown he can follow Pogacar’s wheel in classics like Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, finishing just behind the Slovenian in both races.
Beyond those performances, in 2026 Seixas took a giant step forward after emerging in 2025. He won a stage and finished second overall in the Volta ao Algarve, only beaten by Juan Ayuso. That result marked a turning point, as Decathlon had not initially planned to take him to the Tour. Subsequently, Seixas won the Faun-Ardèche Classic, claimed three stages and the overall title at the Itzulia (Tour of the Basque Country), and then conquered his first major classic at Flèche Wallonne, climbing the Mur de Huy with one of the fastest times in history. Now Seixas aims to continue writing his story at the biggest stage of all: the Tour de France.
After the Tour, Seixas is expected to race in Canada, the World Championships, and the Tour of Lombardy, continuing a packed season.