His own words
“A climber if you look at the stats”
“I'm a climber if you look at the stats. I'm good on long efforts and on the time trial.”
— L'Équipe, April 2026
His strengths
What makes him tick
Climber, time-trialist, and a head built for the long game.
Fatigue resistance
Built to endure — and to recover
“Paul is extremely strong in resistance to fatigue and on long climbing efforts. What makes him so strong is his recovery capacity,” says Jean-Baptiste Quiclet, performance director at Decathlon-CMA CGM.
— Velo Mag, November 2025 & L'Équipe, April 2026
Mindset
“I never really panic”
“Whatever happens, I never really panic. I always stay calm and serene. Even before a race, I don't get worked up. I don't stress, I don't sleep badly.”
— L'Équipe, April 2026
Anatomy
Long legs, a Merckx-like femur
Philippe Gilbert: “He has very long legs, an impressive crank lever, and that makes the difference. He has a very long femur, similar to Eddy Merckx. His efficiency is incredible.”
— L'Équipe, April 2026
Punchy efforts
Surprised himself at Flèche Wallonne 2026
“It's a really nice surprise on this kind of effort — I'm also capable of doing nice things on short efforts.”
— After Flèche Wallonne 2026
Time trial
Chasing aero gains
A new position, new gear, and dedicated weekly sessions.
Position
New arm position in 2026
“For the time trial, I changed my arm position. The support is a bit further forward and it allows me to have a bit more angle on the aero extensions.”
— L'Équipe, February 2026
Equipment
Helmet visor cut in half
“We cut the visor of my time trial helmet in half because we saw it was more aerodynamic and better suited to my position.”
— L'Équipe, February 2026
Preparation
Two to three TT sessions per week
“When I prepare a time trial, I do two or three sessions per week.”
— L'Équipe, October 2025
His team
How Decathlon-CMA CGM describe him
From sports directors to coaches — a rare consensus.
Julien Jurdie — Sports Director
“The best rider I have ever worked with”
“I have been a team manager for 25 years, but this is the best rider I have ever worked with. Romain Bardet gave me goosebumps back then, but I have never seen anything like this myself.”
— Cyclingnews, April 2026
Julien Jurdie — Sports Director
Knows his body inside out
“He has a perfect understanding of his sensations, of his body — it amazes me.”
— L'Équipe, April 2026
Aurélien Paret-Peintre
“A guy apart”
“He has a different maturity from some young riders. He's also different in his professionalism, his quest for results and his ambition. You can feel he's a guy apart.”
— Direct Vélo, October 2025
Alexandre Pacot — His coach
“Always thinking about what's next”
“He tends to immediately think about what's coming next.”
— L'Équipe, April 2026
Alexandre Abel — Decathlon-CMA CGM coach
“A real cannibal on the bike”
“Once he's on his bike, he mobilises all his attention. He becomes a real cannibal.”
— L'Équipe, April 2026
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His peers
How the cycling world talks about him
Legends and rivals are taking notice.
Philippe Gilbert
“More advanced than Pogačar at the same age”
“His instant self-analysis is stunning. Even Pogačar, who was precocious, wasn't that advanced at the same age in his mental development.”
— L'Équipe, April 2026
Mathieu van der Poel
“France has finally found a rider to win the Tour again”
“He's incredible. What we saw in Liège this week, at just 19, was spectacular. It looks like France, after so many years, has finally found a rider capable of winning the Tour again.”
— AS, April 2026
Dream races
The races he dreams of
Tour, Liège and Roubaix — the trilogy of his ambitions.
Tour de France
“The dream is to do the Tour de France”
“The dream is to do the Tour de France. It's the biggest race for me.”
— L'Équipe, October 2025
Liège-Bastogne-Liège
La Redoute would suit him perfectly
“Among the classics, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the one that interests me the most. I often watched it on TV when I was little. La Redoute would really suit me well.”
— L'Équipe, October 2025
Paris-Roubaix
“I really love the cobbles”
“I'd love to do Paris-Roubaix one day. I really love the cobbles.”
— L'Équipe, October 2025
Family & roots
His childhood and family
Lyon, Haute-Savoie, Portugal — three threads of identity.
Hometown
Grew up in Lyon
Paul Seixas grew up in Lyon.
— Public records
Haute-Savoie
Roots in the Arve valley
His family roots run through Haute-Savoie via his paternal grandparents, settled in the Arve valley. That's where he discovered the Tour de France and climbed his first cols. His grandfather loved watching the Tour with him.
— Le Dauphiné, September 2025
Portugal
Three generations of Portuguese heritage
His Portuguese roots go back three generations, to his great-grandfather who came to work in France and married a Czechoslovakian woman.
— Luso Journal, January 2025
His parents
An IT engineer and a French teacher
His father Emmanuel is a computer engineer, and his mother Emmanuelle is an agrégée in literature and French teacher at Collège Asa Pauline in Anse.
— Le Progrès, April 2026
Today
Lives in Nice
Paul Seixas now lives in Nice.
— Public records
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Cycling formation
How a prodigy is built
From a garage in Lyon to ≈30 wins a year as a junior.
First licence
First licence at age 8 — Lyon Sprint Évolution
He took his first licence at 8 years old at Lyon Sprint Évolution (LSE), and stayed there until age 14.
— Public records
First race
Won the very first race he entered
Paul won the first race he ever lined up for, aged 8-9, in Bourg-en-Bresse.
— L'Équipe, October 2025
Home training
Two hours a week in his parents' garage
Beyond his club training, he spent two hours a week in his parents' garage with his mother, riding circles around bowling pins to sharpen his handling.
— L'Équipe, February 2026
Coordination
Climbing to sync body & mind
Paul struggled to coordinate his movements as a kid. He took up rock climbing to sync his upper- and lower-body coordination.
— L'Équipe, February 2026
Junior years
≈ 30 wins per year — from age 9 to 14
Racing for LSE, he won around 30 races every season between the ages of 9 and 14.
— L'Équipe, February 2026
Move to Anse
Joined VCVB in Villefranche
In 2021 he moved to Anse (8,000 inhabitants, 25 km from Lyon) and joined Vélo Club Villefranche Beaujolais (VCVB).
— Public records
Training load
3–4 sessions a week, 2–3 hours each
At 15, he was already training 3 to 4 times a week, for 2 to 3 hours per day.
— Luso Journal, January 2025
Discipline
Never missed a single training session
Even as a young rider, Paul never skipped a training session.
— L'Équipe, April 2026
Equipment
4 race bikes by age 15
At 15, Paul already owned four competition bikes — one for road, one for cyclo-cross, one for the track and one for mountain biking.
— Radio Pluriel, 2022
Studies
A student-athlete's path
Balancing the WorldTour with a top French business school.
High school
Sport-études program
In high school, Paul followed a sport-études track with adapted hours so he could keep training while studying. He stayed there through 10th and 11th grade at Lycée Polyvalent Louis Armand in Villefranche-sur-Saône.
— Public records
Baccalauréat
High-school diploma via CNED in 2023
He passed his baccalauréat through France's distance-learning CNED in 2023 — the same year he joined AG2R Citroën — picking economics & social sciences and foreign languages, literatures & cultures as his specialties.
— Le Figaro Étudiant, March 2026
Higher education
Bachelor at emlyon business school
Paul is currently enrolled in a Bachelor in Business & Administration at emlyon, inside the bespoke 'Parcours Talents' track, designed to let him pursue his pro cycling career alongside his studies.
— Planète Grandes Écoles, March 2026
Idols
His heroes
Aggressive, attacking riders — the ones who 'create movement'.
Role models
Alaphilippe, Pogačar, Evenepoel, Van der Poel
“He's always admired Alaphilippe, Pogačar, Remco, Mathieu van der Poel because they create movement,” according to his father.
— France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, October 2025
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Nickname
His nickname
A name that says it all about his racing IQ.
Nickname
“Seixas Instrument”
That was his nickname back in the day — a nod to how intelligent and tactically sharp a rider he is.
— Cycling community
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