"Given your level on the road, you have to give it up": Why wonderkid Paul Seixas had to step back from cyclocross

Paul Seixas has just completed his first season as a pro, and it is safe to say he has exceeded all expectations. The 19-year old is the brightest and most exciting prospect coming from France, where they hope Seixas will be the man bringing the yellow jersey back to the country more than 40 years after Hinault did it for the last time.

Something many people may not know is Seixas' passion for cyclocross. He competed in two full seasons (22-23 and 23-24), obtaining very decent results and winning the respectable number of 9 races at the junior level.

However, he has not appeared in a cyclocross startlist since January 21, 2024, when he finished in 12th place at the UCI World Cup Benidorm, more than one minute behind Aubin Sparfel. The reason, as explained by France’s national cyclocross coach François Trarieux, is related to an accident he suffered.

"Last year he was preparing for the Under-19 World Championship and fell during a reconnaissance, breaking his wrist," the coach said, as reported by Ouest-France in a recent interview. "The dreams he had of winning the rainbow jersey vanished at that moment and, at the same time, the direction his career would take was clearer than ever."

Before that crash, Seixas had just won the national U19 cyclocross title and was earning strong results internationally in the men junior category, including a podium in the Namur World Cup round and a fourth place in Flamanville. But the setback accelerated a shift that was already under consideration before that.

"We realized pretty quickly his technical limitations, especially on muddy courses. After his injury, I had to tell him, 'I know you love cyclocross, but given your level on the road, you have to give it up, at least for a while,' because you could get injured more and more often. It was a difficult conversation, but necessary."

Despite this, the young Frenchman has not lost his affection for the discipline. Trarieux revealed that the two spoke again during the 2025 Tour de l’Avenir. "We met at the 2025 Tour de l'Avenir and talked about it again," Trarieux revealed. "He still follows what his old national teammates are doing because he enjoys cyclocross. But, for now, he doesn't want to do more than pursue this passion."

Seixas ended up winning the Tour de l'Avenir after a monster final uphill time trial that allowed him to overcome Maxime Decomble. He even competed in his first monument (Il Lombardia), where he finished in seventh place.