Paul Seixas flies on the Tourmalet and leaves several KOMs before his debut in the Tour

With just over a month until the start of the 2026 Tour de France, Paul Seixas has left one of the most striking signals of his preparation. The young rider from Decathlon CMA-CGM spent the last weekend of May reconnoitering the sixth stage of the Grande Boucle in the Pyrenees and took the opportunity to secure several KOMs on the roads of Tourmalet.

Paul Seixas makes a statement at Tourmalet and takes several Strava KOMs during the reconnaissance of the Tour de France

The 19-year-old Frenchman, who will debut this summer in the French round, traveled to the Pyrenees with his teammates Nicolas Prodhomme and Matthew Riccitello to study the terrain of stage 6 of the Tour between Pau and Gavarnie-Gèdre. A route of 186 kilometers and 4,000 meters of elevation gain that will include two key climbs: the Col d’Aspin and the legendary Tourmalet.

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According to data published on Strava, Seixas accumulated a huge workload over the weekend. On Saturday, he completed 136 kilometers and more than 4,200 meters of positive elevation while covering a good part of the Tour stage, while on Sunday he added another 90 kilometers and nearly 2,900 meters of ascent. In total, almost 7,000 meters of positive elevation in just two days.

But beyond the training volume, what caught the most attention were the records achieved by the Frenchman at Tourmalet. During the second day of reconnaissance, he secured several Strava KOMs, including some of the most challenging segments in the area.

One of them corresponds to a climb of 10.1 kilometers at an average gradient of 6.9% located near Tourmalet. There, Seixas recorded a time of 25 minutes and 25 seconds, riding at an average speed close to 24 km/h to take the KOM of the segment.

In that same stretch, Lenny Martínez had marked a time 35 seconds slower during the 2025 Tour de France, specifically in the fourteenth stage between Pau and Luchon-Superbagnères. This is not directly comparable considering that Martinez was coming off the fatigue typical of the stage.

Still, the record confirms Seixas's excellent form before facing the decisive block of his preparation.

After recently completing a high-altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada, the Frenchman will now face the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes as the last major test before presenting himself in Barcelona for the most anticipated debut of his career. If the numbers he is posting on Strava serve as an indicator, Tourmalet already knows that one of the great talents in world cycling will arrive at the Tour de France with legs ready to compete with the best climbers in the peloton.