The 19-year-old Frenchman finished second at his first Strade Bianche. The hype train has left the station and we’re not getting off.
Cor Vos; Gruber Images
The Great French Hope Hype Train is one of cycling’s most reliable and most treacherous vehicles. It departs with regularity, builds speed with alarming enthusiasm, and has a well-documented tendency to leave the tracks at the worst possible moment. The French sports press has been loading passengers on for years, handing out baguettes and absolute certainty, and yet somehow, the TGV to actually winning much of anything remains en retard.
Bienvenue, Paul Seixas, to the next decade of your life. You are 19 years old. And on Saturday, at your first Strade Bianche, you finished second behind Tadej Pogačar, and ahead of everyone else on the planet.
We’re getting on the train. Our sandwiches are packed. We’ve claimed the window seat. This is the overnight straight to Paris and the conductor is a maniac.
The UAE leadout began in earnest with about 85 km remaining, and it took until only 80 km to go before Tadej Pogacar pounced off his teammates. The world champion stripes ripped up Monte Sante Marie, one of his favored launch pads, while behind, through the fine white dust, came the teenager. Seixas grimaced, closed the gap slightly. Nobody else in frame but the two of them. The chased and the chasing.
That moment, a few frames of live television, was all we needed. Seixas did not need to win Strade Bianche. Nobody really expected that. He had to lose it heroically, in the tradition of the Hype Train occupants before him, and had to go down with at least a swing, reminding us that the most intoxicating force in sport is still potential.
He was closing. He was actually, genuinely closing on Tadej Pogačar. At Strade Bianche, on his debut.
Pogačar looked back. Saw a 19-year-old Frenchman arriving at speed. Shrugged internally, dropped to a harder gear, and that was predictably that. The gap went to a minute and forty.
“Of course, I was missing a few meters, but I gave everything to try to follow him,” Seixas said.
Before the race, Seixas was asked point-blank whether he’d sign for second place behind Pogačar. “Of course I would sign for that,” he said. “It’s a dream to be able to start the race and try to fight with the best.” This is exactly the kind of measured, sensible answer that should have indicated a young rider managing expectations responsibly. It will have zero impact on the Hype Train’s acceleration.
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