French prodigy Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) has already had a big year in his first year as a professional, already competing with the best at only 19 years old, but on Sunday he capped the season off with one last massive performance.
Having finished his racing season at Il Lombardia – where he finished seventh in his first-ever Monument – you might have expected Seixas to take some time away from the bike, but no.
Instead, he got up at 3am on Sunday morning to take on a huge ride in the French and Swiss Alps, riding for 323km over 12 hours riding time, and racking up over 8,000m of elevation gain, according to his Strava.
The Frenchman set off at 3.06am on Sunday, and was out for more than 15 hours, in the ride that he titled "Finishing off the season well" with a salute and shivering emoji – with temperatures already down to around six degrees Celsius in the Alps.
The route he rode was largely the reverse of the Tour du Mont Blanc sportive, one of the hardest sportives out there. He rode climbs including the Col des Saisies, Cormet de Roselend, Petit Saint-Bernard, Grand Saint-Bernard and the Col de la Forclaz.
He took the KOM on the Grand Saint-Bernard, completing the 34km climb in 1:44:16.
Only turning 19 in September, Seixas has been taking on the WorldTour as a teenager this year, telling Cyclingnews in the Spring how he had to double his training load from juniors to elites to be able to compete.
His 323km mammoth ride on Sunday was his longest ride of the year, according to Strava, after his longest race of the year came at the World Championships in Rwanda, where he finished 13th after 267km of racing.
A deeper look at Seixas' Strava reveals the numbers of his debut season: he's ridden 10,577km this year, up from 5,705km last year, spending just over 300 hours on his bike.
In terms of results, this year has seen Seixas finish seventh in a Monument, 13th at Worlds and third at the European Championships, and he took a dominant overall victory at the Tour de l'Avenir, which was his only foray into the under-23 ranks, opting to ride with the best of the WorldTour for most of the year.
He didn't complete a Grand Tour this year, but his progress suggests that a debut in 2026 is on the cards. With big rides like Sunday's already in the bank, it certainly looks like he is on that path.
