“They’re not just riding for Felix Gall, they’re riding for Paul Seixas” – David Millar says Decathlon’s Vuelta show of force sends message to teenage Tour star

Ten-time Grand Tour stage winner David Millar believes Decathlon CMA CGM Team’s imposing display at the 2026 Vuelta a Espana carried significance beyond Felix Gall’s immediate pursuit of the red jersey. With teenage Tour de France star Paul Seixas watching from home, the British former professional saw a team demonstrating what it now wants to represent.

Seixas finished fourth on his Tour debut at only 19, placing him at the centre of Decathlon’s long-term Grand Tour project. He has confirmed that he will remain with the French team through 2027, but persistent links with UAE Team Emirates – XRG, Team Visma | Lease a Bike and Netcompany INEOS have ensured continued scrutiny of the support structure being built around him.

That gave Decathlon’s performance on the Alto de Aitana a wider relevance. The team committed almost its entire mountain unit to erasing a breakaway advantage that had previously exceeded six minutes, maintaining control even after the group of favourites had been reduced to around 20 riders.

The effort did not produce the desired result. Gall attacked with seven kilometres remaining, but Enric Mas, Primoz Roglic and Oscar Onley followed before the Austrian eventually finished fourth and conceded 18 seconds to Mas. Millar nevertheless viewed the collective display as an important declaration of identity.

“They just had a train on the front to catch them,” Millar said on the For the Love of Cycling podcast. “Even with, what, seven kilometres to go, they still had four or five riders there, maybe six at the beginning, and they held that. The group was down to about 20 riders and they still had this freight train on the front. They were just destroying the time gap.”

Jordan Labrosse and Sander De Pestel contributed to the prolonged chase before Gregor Muhlberger delivered the final acceleration that launched Gall. Decathlon had taken responsibility for deciding how the stage would be raced, rather than conserving riders and waiting for Movistar or another GC team to make the first move.

For Millar, the importance lay not only in what that support could achieve for Gall during the Vuelta, but in what it revealed to the rider expected to lead Decathlon at future Tours.

“I think, yes, it is all for Felix Gall, but I think it’s also an attitude as a team, because they’re not just riding for Felix Gall, they’re riding for Paul Seixas,” he said. “They’re learning. They’re showing what they’re becoming: an A-team.”

Seixas has already produced a season that would define the career of most riders. He won three stages and the overall title at Itzulia Basque Country, became the youngest winner of La Fleche Wallonne and finished second behind Tadej Pogacar at Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

His Tour de France debut brought another leap. Decathlon entrusted its GC campaign to the 19-year-old and he finished fourth overall, only 2:14 outside the final podium.

That breakthrough intensified the transfer interest surrounding him. UAE Team Emirates – XRG, Team Visma | Lease a Bike and Netcompany INEOS have all been linked with Seixas, although he has confirmed that he will remain under contract with Decathlon through 2027. “Paul Seixas, sitting at home watching that, is going to be so proud,” Millar continued. “The whole team is going to feel: ‘This is who we are now. We are going to race like this. We’re not going to sit around and wait.’”

Seixas has already said that he will honour his contract through the end of 2027. That gives Decathlon time to strengthen the squad and demonstrate that remaining with a French team does not require him to compromise his Tour ambitions.

The Alto de Aitana offered one such demonstration. Decathlon placed multiple riders around Gall deep into a demanding mountain stage, eliminated a six-minute deficit and dictated the pace until the final seven kilometres.

Gall could not convert that collective strength into a stage victory, but Millar’s point does not depend upon presenting the strategy as an unqualified success. The significance was that Decathlon possessed the numbers, confidence and willingness to take control of a major Grand Tour summit finish.

That is the structure Seixas will need if his progression from fourth place towards the Tour podium is to continue. Gall was the protected rider in Spain, but Decathlon’s freight train also showed its 19-year-old Tour leader what may be available without joining one of the rival superteams pursuing him.