"Each week is worth half a million more": Seixas' own team is amazed by their growth

Within the peloton, there are few stories that grow as quickly as that of Paul Seixas. And what is most striking is not just what he is doing in the race, but how it is being experienced from within his own team.

The Seixas Impact Explained by His Teammates

In a recent interview, Belgian Stan Dewulf makes it clear that even within Decathlon–CMA CGM, they have not yet fully grasped the magnitude of the phenomenon.

Seixas's leap has not followed a logical progression. At the beginning of the season, there was already interest, but he was still seen as a talent in development. Everything changed in a matter of weeks. First came his victory in Algarve, then that second place in the Strade Bianche, just behind Tadej Pogacar, and from there the ascent was immediate. Itzulia confirmed that it was not an isolated flash, and the Flecha Valona finished breaking any predictions, making him the youngest winner in history.

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That context explains the tone of surprise that Dewulf still carries. He has been one of the men who has worked the hardest for Seixas throughout the spring, and yet he admits that it is hard to accept what they are witnessing. “It’s still a surprise,” he admits. “Maybe less than at the beginning of the year, but what he has done is hard to comprehend.” The statement is not rhetorical. He speaks of someone who has won in Huy in his first participation, after having recognized the climb only a couple of times in his life.

Within the team, there is no discourse of protection or medium-term growth. The feeling, as the Belgian explains, is that from the very first moment, they have raced to win. “It was clear he was serious. It wasn’t about aiming for a top five. The plan was to try to win the race.” This change in mentality is, in fact, one of the clearest indicators of how much Seixas has altered the team structure in just a few months.

But where the magnitude of the phenomenon is most perceived is off the road. The media exposure has grown at the same pace as his results, and according to Dewulf, the key has been to protect him from that environment. “There is so much attention that we try to keep everything more relaxed within the team,” he explains. “We bond, talk about other things, relieve pressure.” It is a way to compensate for a noise that, from the outside, has not stopped increasing.

Because the market has already been activated. The interest from UAE Team Emirates has been public for weeks, with Mauro Gianetti even acknowledging that “having Seixas and Pogacar together would be more than a dream.” And in parallel, there have even been readings that go beyond sports, with the figure of French President Emmanuel Macron hovering over the debate regarding the possibility of the French talent leaving a national structure.

Dewulf does not enter that territory, but he does leave a phrase that summarizes the current situation well. “I think in the last few months he has become half a million more expensive every week.” It is not a literal figure, but rather a way to explain how each result has been raising his value and impact.

What is most striking is that, despite all this, the image he describes of Seixas does not fit that of a media star. “He is calm, very respectful,” he recounts. “Sometimes he blocks his phone and disconnects from everything. He prefers to go out for a ride or a walk rather than read what is said about him.” In an environment where every performance multiplies attention, that ability to isolate himself has become one of his greatest assets.

That is why within the team there is a recurring idea. They are not only facing an exceptional rider but something unusual even by WorldTour standards. Dewulf sums it up bluntly: “He is the kind of cyclist that appears once every ten or twenty years.”

And perhaps that is the key to it all. Seixas is not just winning races. He is forcing his own team, and the entire peloton, to reinterpret what can be expected from a 19-year-old cyclist.