"Tiesj Benoot told me he'd never seen Vingegaard train as hard as Paul Seixas" - Decathlon teammates stunned by 19-year-old's brutal Tour de France build-up
Cycling
Paul Seixas will start his first Tour de France with one of the most startling internal comparisons of the build-up attached to him. Before the 19-year-old has even reached Barcelona, one of his Decathlon CMA CGM Team teammates has already placed his preparation next to Jonas Vingegaard’s.
Seixas is not arriving as a development rider hidden in the middle of a squad. He starts as Decathlon’s general classification project, backed by a team built to help him survive the mountains and tested by a final build-up interrupted by a heavy crash at the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes. Speaking on the Radio Stelvio podcast, Sander De Pestel revealed the line from Tiesj Benoot that has given Seixas’ preparation an even sharper edge.
Benoot reaches for Vingegaard comparison
Benoot knows Vingegaard’s standards better than most. Before joining Decathlon, the Belgian spent years at Team Visma | Lease a Bike, where he saw at close range how the Dane prepared for the Tour de France campaigns that made him a two-time yellow jersey winner.
His view of Seixas’ training has clearly travelled through the Decathlon group. “I think he trained really, really hard in the lead-up to the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes,” said De Pestel. “Tiesj Benoot told me he'd never seen Vingegaard train as hard as Paul Seixas did. I hope it hasn’t been too much. Time will tell...”
Seixas crashed heavily at the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, a late disruption before the biggest race of his career. De Pestel said he had not heard anything alarming since the fall, but the training load before it had already made an impression. “I haven’t heard anything about Paul,” said De Pestel. “So I think he is fine.”
Seixas has spent 2026 moving beyond the usual language of patience around young riders. His results and climbing level have pushed him towards immediate relevance, and Decathlon’s Tour selection confirms the scale of their belief. A Vingegaard comparison before a first Tour appearance is not normal dressing-room praise.
No gentle Tour debut for Decathlon’s teenage leader
Decathlon have not selected a squad that suggests Seixas is simply there to learn. Benoot brings Grand Tour experience and control, while Nicolas Prodhomme, Aurelien Paret-Peintre and Matthew Riccitello give the team climbing depth around their young leader.
De Pestel also pointed to Riccitello’s value beyond the mountains, using last year’s Vuelta as proof that the American can contribute on faster terrain too. “He beat me last year in a billiard-flat time trial at the Vuelta,” said De Pestel. “Despite being 1.68 metres tall.”
There is another route to success through Olav Kooij, with Cees Bol and Daan Hoole selected to support the Dutch sprinter on the flatter days. That gives Decathlon a stage-winning option away from the general classification battle, but the weight of the team’s Tour still sits heavily on Seixas.
At 19, he is being asked to carry French expectation into the same race as Tadej Pogacar and Vingegaard, while Decathlon try to manage ambition and protection. His crash at the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes keeps a question around the opening week, but inside the team the talk has centred on a rider whose preparation has already drawn one of the strongest comparisons available.
Seixas remains a Tour debutant with no three-week experience at this level. He also arrives as the teenager whose build-up made Benoot think back to Vingegaard.
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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