The battle for Paul Seixas continues, with the latest rumours pointing to him leaving Decathlon

The future of Paul Seixas is once again shaking up the cycling market. After several months of million-dollar offers, acknowledged interests, and movements from Decathlon CMA CGM to try to secure their star, new information from Italy places the Frenchman outside of his current team when his contract ends in late 2027.

Paul Seixas is once again rumored to be leaving Decathlon

The new information comes from veteran Italian journalist Beppe Conti, who this week spoke again about Seixas's future on Radiocorsa. According to Conti, the scenario that is gaining traction is that Paul Seixas will leave Decathlon CMA CGM when his contract ends on December 31, 2027, with Visma-Lease a Bike and Netcompany-INEOS as two of the teams best positioned to sign him starting in 2028.

The information goes even further. Conti currently places Visma with a slight advantage and talks about a possible salary of 8 to 10 million euros per year for the Frenchman. However, at the moment, there is no official announcement confirming either Seixas's departure or an agreement with another team.

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Therefore, the information should still be treated as what it is: one of the major rumors in the market. But this time it comes after many months in which different teams have emerged around the rider, and some of them have even publicly acknowledged their interest.

Visma has been pursuing Seixas for some time

Visma is not appearing for the first time now. As we reported in Brújula Bike, the Dutch team has been following the Frenchman for some time and has reportedly been in contact with Seixas and his entourage since the summer of 2025.

According to information published during the last Tour de France, Richard Plugge and Visma were trying to convince the rider mainly through their sports project. The idea would be to offer him a path to become one of the team's major stage race leaders.

Decathlon, for its part, has always publicly maintained a different stance. Dominique Serieys made it clear during the Tour that the intention was to negotiate a contract extension and build a structure around Seixas capable of competing for the Tour de France.

In fact, the French team later detailed its plan to try to retain him. The strategy was not limited to improving his contract. Decathlon wanted to strengthen the squad and show him that he could aspire to win the Tour within the same structure in which he became a professional.

UAE also publicly acknowledged its interest

The list of suitors has been changing over the past few months. UAE Team Emirates-XRG was one of the first teams to stop hiding.

Mauro Gianetti openly acknowledged the interest of the Emirati team and even publicly imagined the possibility of bringing the Frenchman together with Tadej Pogačar. “Having Seixas and Pogacar together would be more than a dream”, the UAE manager stated at that time.

Subsequently, information about Visma, INEOS, and Q36.5 began to accumulate following that statement.

Precisely this last team was the subject of one of the most striking rumors in the market. At the end of June, Daniel Benson reported that Q36.5 had contacted Seixas's entourage and there was talk of a proposal close to 13 million euros per season. If it had materialized in those terms, it would have placed the Frenchman among the largest contracts known in the history of cycling.

Seixas always remained cautious about those figures. During the Tour, he stated that many of the circulating reports were false and reminded that he had a contract with Decathlon until the end of 2027 and enough time to decide his future.

The Tour and his season have only increased his value

Since then, the problem for Decathlon is that Seixas's sporting value has continued to grow. The Frenchman definitively confirmed his status as a grand tour rider with a fourth place in his debut at the Tour de France, after a season in which he also won the Fleche Wallonne and took the overall classification of Itzulia. Just a few days ago, he demonstrated his level again by finishing second in the GP of Montreal, only surpassed by Isaac del Toro.

At just 19 years old, each major result continues to fuel a market that has been moving around him for months. And there is still the World Championship to be contested, where Seixas is one of the favorites.