A contract question hiding behind a Tour question
Whether Paul Seixas starts the 2027 Tour de France depends on which team he rides for after that season, according to Marc Madiot. The Groupama-FDJ United boss, speaking as a consultant on RMC’s Les Grandes Gueules du Sport on Sunday, framed it as a choice between two calendars. Seixas is 20, has one year left on his deal with Decathlon CMA CGM and hasn’t said what comes next.
Madiot’s reasoning runs like this. If the youngest winner in the history of the Tour of Lombardy signs a long extension with his current squad, 2027 can be built around the home world championships in Haute-Savoie, with a serious run at the Giro beforehand. If he leaves, Madiot would put him on the Tour start line instead. Seixas finished fourth at the Tour this year.
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Why Madiot points him to the Giro
Madiot also thinks the Giro is the better route to a first Grand Tour win, because Tadej Pogacar will be chasing a record sixth Tour title next July. The 2028 world championships course, he added, won’t suit Seixas. A Giro victory and a rainbow jersey in 2027 would therefore make the young Frenchman Pogacar’s main rival heading into 2028.
RMC reports that Decathlon CMA CGM’s extension offer is on the table, described as the best possible one, with no deadline attached. The team has already reshaped itself around him. It set up a performance unit near Nice, where he lives, with a coach, a masseur, a physiotherapist, a nutritionist and a mechanical hub, and it has announced Ben O’Connor, Pavel Sivakov and Laurens De Plus for next season.
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