He just celebrated his 20th birthday on September 24. However, Paul Seixas is already part of the elite of his discipline. For his second season among professionals – the first without going down to the lower level – the French prodigy has continued to progress. From his first professional victory in the Tour of the Algarve in February to his monumental success in the Tour of Lombardy in October, he has not only changed his status. The leader of the Decathlon CMA CGM team left an indelible mark on the history of cycling by seizing a host of early records.
Youngest participant in the post-war Tour de France
At the start of the year, doubt still remained about Paul Seixas' program. Only the first part of his calendar had been revealed, before his first career participation in the Tour de France was announced on May 4. Two months later, he became the youngest runner to start the race since 1937, at 19 years and 9 months. That year, at a completely different time, another Frenchman, Adrien Cento, was hired at just 19 years and 3 months.
Seixas had made it clear that he did not intend to simply make his mark in the most prestigious race in the world. In the race until the end for a place on the podium, he finally settled for fourth place, 2'14" from his rival Isaac del Toro, and far from the untouchable Tadej Pogacar (+ 11'56").
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Youngest wearer of the white jersey in the Tour de France
By finishing fourth in his first Tour de France, Paul Seixas was unable to reach the final podium on the Champs-Elysées. Also ahead of Isaac del Toro in the ranking of best young rider, he still allowed himself to wear the white jersey during the 15th stage towards the Plateau de Solaison. A small event in that no runner under 21 had ever been able to do it.
At 19 years, 9 months and 24 days, he dethroned Tadej Pogacar, former holder of this record for precocity (at 21 years, 11 months and 11 days). If Paul Seixas is not yet at the level of the Slovenian glutton, he is following in his footsteps, and even has a small head start.
Youngest winner of a Monument in 82 years
We had to wait until the very end of his season to see him sign the best performance of his career. By crushing the competition in the Tour of Lombardy, Paul Seixas quite simply became the youngest winner in the history of the Monument at 20 years and 16 days. The Frenchman quickly digested his disappointment at the Montreal Worlds to remind us that he was not just a general classification rider.
On the scale of the five Monuments, we have to go back to 1944 to find traces of a winner younger than him: Rik Van Steenbergen during the 1944 Tour of Flanders at 19 years and 206 days old.
Youngest winner of the Flèche wallonne
The Frenchman captured another leading Classic in the spring. He won with more than three seconds ahead of the best punchers and climbers in the peloton in the terrible Mur de Huy, in order to win the Flèche wallonne. A novice in the race and having fallen during the event, he still rode like a boss. At 19 years and 210 days, he erased Philémon De Meersman, former holder of the precocity record because he won the race in 1936 at 21 years and 150 days - two years older than Paul Seixas.
Youngest winner of a World Tour stage race
On the Tour of the Basque Country at the beginning of April, Paul Seixas showed that he had reached a huge milestone. He won everything in his path: three stages and the general classification in six days of racing. Which allowed him to become the youngest winner in the history of a World Tour stage race. Established in 2004, it brings together the most competitive races on the international cycling calendar.
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He erased Remco Evenepoel, winner of the 2020 Tour of Poland at 20 years and five months, from the shelves, while allowing French cycling to end an embarrassing drought. A successor to Christophe Moreau, titled in the Critérium du Dauphiné, has been awaited since 2007.
World Tour victory record at age 20
Since the establishment of the World Tour, raising your arms at the age of 20 has been extremely rare. Paul Seixas is among only three cyclists to have achieved this, along with Belgian Remco Evenepoel and promising British sprinter Matthew Brennan. But with his success on the World Tour in 2026, Seixas has done as well as his two opponents combined: 6 victories for him against 4 for Brennan and 2 for Evenepoel at the same age.
