Why France banned Paul Seixas from competing in cyclocross

As is customary in today's cycling, the young pearl of French cycling, Paul Seixas, was also a lover of other disciplines such as cyclocross. However, liking something is one thing, and having the necessary qualities to excel in it is quite another. This was noted by the former French coach, François Trarieux, who advised Seixas to forget about the mud and focus solely on the road.

The French coach's decision to protect the great hope of winning the Tour de France

We have often talked about the kind of national trauma that exists in France because no Frenchman has won the Tour since Bernard Hinault last did it in 1985. More than 40 years without achieving the yellow jersey. This is why the emergence of a prodigy like Paul Seixas has once again rekindled the hope of the French to break such an unfortunate streak.

A cyclist who is being protected to the maximum so that he can gradually pave his way to the year 2030, when his team has predicted that it would be the year to achieve such a feat. Let us not forget that he has only completed his first season as a professional and is just 19 years old. This youth has not prevented him from already rubbing shoulders with Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel, with whom he shared the podium at the last European Championship.

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The obsession to care for their star is such that in an interview with a French newspaper, former coach François Trarieux explained how he insisted that Seixas forget about cyclocross. A discipline that the young cyclist from Decathlon CMA-CGM was passionate about, in which he even won the French Championship last year. However, while training in the days leading up to the World Cup race in Benidorm, he broke his wrist, which raised all the alarms.

Although Seixas had been competing in cyclocross during his junior years in winter, the former coach explained that they had detected quite a few technical deficiencies in him from the beginning. He competed, was at the front, and won races simply because he was a physical prodigy, but he had many technical limitations, “especially when it came to running with the bike,” Trarieux explained.

After the injury suffered in Benidorm, the then coach confronted Seixas and clearly stated, “I know you love cyclocross, but given your level on the road, it's better to forget it because you are going to get injured more and more.” “It hurt me, but it was necessary,” François Trarieux candidly admitted.