“Look at Pogacar’s first year as a pro… their results are fairly comparable” - Former teammate believes Paul Seixas will ‘get very close’ to Tadej Pogacar

Paul Seixas’ start to Itzulia Basque Country 2026 has not come out of nowhere. The 19-year-old arrived as one of the most talked-about riders of the season, but his back-to-back performances in the opening two stages have pushed that reputation into something far more concrete, forcing comparisons with Tadej Pogacar into the foreground.

Speaking to Sporza, former team-mate Milan Donie made clear that, from his perspective, the current level had long been visible. “It was already clear at the youth level that this was coming,” he said.

We go back to the winter of 2022-2023, when Seixas was still largely unknown outside French circles, joining the AG2R junior set-up for the first time. Even in that environment, Donie recalls a clear hierarchy emerging.

“Leo Bisiaux was the big name in the team at the time, but even as a first-year junior, Paul was already producing better test results than Leo,” he explained. “Even then, he was by far the strongest in terms of numbers. It was already clear that this was coming.”

What has changed this week is not the existence of that potential, but the level at which it is now being expressed. Against a field featuring established WorldTour names, Seixas has not just competed, he has created decisive gaps. “I was shocked when I saw what he did yesterday in the Basque Country,” Donie admitted. “These are not small names he’s beating, with Del Toro, Roglic, Lipowitz, Ayuso…”

Those names, and the margins between them, are what have driven the Pogacar comparison from a long-term projection into a present-day discussion. “Look at Pogacar’s first year as a pro; their results are fairly comparable,” he said.

Donie still sees that trajectory trending upwards at a pace. “I even think he’s already getting close now,” he added. “In Strade Bianche, Del Toro was still between him and Pogacar, which created a gap. He almost came back anyway.”

Looking further ahead, he pointed to the natural progression of riders at that level. “You know he’s only going to get stronger,” Donie said. “Pogacar also still had to sit behind Roglic in 2020. I think he will eventually get very close to him.”

That trajectory is not only built on numbers, but on approach. Even at youth level, Donie points to a mindset that set Seixas apart from his peers. “I always found him very mature, a very calm person,” he said. “He never looked down on others. Even though he was by far the best, he never behaved arrogantly.”

It was during his junior years that that mentality translated into a decisive shift in ambition and commitment. “That’s when he realised: I can make it as a cyclist,” Donie explained. “After that, he gave everything.”

That commitment is reflected in how Seixas approaches training compared to his peers. “The result is that he sometimes does crazy things,” he said. “You can see on his Strava that he does an eight-hour ride in the off-season, while most riders want to get away from the bike. That’s Paul.”

With his trajectory already matching some of the sport’s biggest benchmarks and his results now backing that up at WorldTour level, the comparison to Pogacar is no longer theoretical. It is becoming part of the conversation around Seixas in real time, and one that is only likely to grow as the season develops.