"I didn’t make the top 10, but I reached a level of suffering – The hardest race of my life": Paul Seixas (19!) puts in breakout performance during Kigali Worlds road race
Cycling
Paul Seixas’ debut at the elite men’s World Championship road race in Kigali ended with a 13th-place finish, 9 minutes and 7 seconds behind winner Tadej Pogacar. While the French teenager missed out on a top-10 placing, his performance stood out as a breakout ride, finishing 40 seconds ahead of compatriot Pavel Sivakov and cementing his position as the best-placed French rider.
“I’m really happy to have finished,” Seixas told Eurosport after the race, visibly and understandably exhausted. “I wanted to help the team as much as possible, especially Pavel, who was our leader. In the end, maybe he didn’t have the day he hoped for, and it was decided on the pedals. We didn’t manage a top-10 or better, but we gained a lot of experience. It was so tough at the finish — when you have nothing left, it’s all in the head. I’m very pleased to have finished, and it will serve as a learning experience for the future.”
Learning Through Suffering
Seixas’ race was defined by relentless climbs, punishing cobbled sections, and the attritional pace of the elite peloton. Despite being one of the youngest riders in the field, he managed to stay with some of the best in the world, including Tom Pidcock and Primoz Roglic, even as the race fragmented on the circuits around Kigali.
“It still feels strange riding with guys like Pidcock or Roglic, especially while trying to finish in the top 10 of an elite World Championship,” Seixas continued. “It’s impressive, and I gave everything I had just to hang on and finish. I didn’t make the top 10, but I’m not racing against unknown riders, so no regrets. I reached a level of suffering I’ve rarely experienced — probably the hardest race of my life. I think it will help me take the next step forward.”
Despite missing out on a podium or top-10 finish, Seixas’ performance marks him as a talent to watch for the future. His ability to endure the extreme demands of the Kigali parcours, support his team leader, and maintain position ahead of other established riders highlights both physical resilience and tactical maturity well beyond his years.
For the 19-year-old, the race provided more than just results — it was an invaluable lesson in perseverance, strategy, and handling the mental and physical toll of a World Championship-level race. The experience gained in Rwanda is likely to form the foundation for an exciting next chapter in Seixas’ rapidly emerging career.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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