Decathlon CMA CGM 2026 Tour de France: Can Seixas and Kooij deliver immediate success?

2025 Tour de France:

• 2025 Tour stage wins: 0
• 2025 Best GC finish: 5th - Felix Gall

2026 Objectives:

Decathlon CMA CGM enters the Tour with two debutants at the heart of its plans. Paul Seixas will lead the team’s general classification challenge, while Olav Kooij offers a clear route to success in the bunch sprints.

Seixas begins his first Grand Tour without setting a firm result target. The Frenchman will focus on staying competitive, gaining experience and discovering how he responds to three weeks of racing.

“With five days to go until the Grand Départ, I feel ready to give it my all and achieve the best possible result,” said Seixas.

Matthew Riccitello, Nicolas Prodhomme and Aurélien Paret Peintre will support him in the mountains, with Tiesj Benoot bringing valuable experience as road captain.

Kooij arrives after illness delayed the start of his season, but victories at the Boucles de la Mayenne and the Baloise Belgium Tour confirmed that his speed has returned. Cees Bol and Daan Hoole will play key roles in his sprint setup.

“We are approaching the Tour with ambition but also humility,” said general manager Dominique Serieys.

Stage victories with Kooij are a realistic objective, while Seixas will aim to remain in contention for as long as possible and build the foundations for future Tour campaigns.

🇫🇷 Paul Seixas (19): Few Tour debutants have arrived with expectations quite like these. Seixas begins his first Grand Tour as Decathlon CMA CGM’s main rider for the general classification, following a spring that confirmed his place among the leading names in the peloton. The Frenchman is not setting a public target, but his performances suggest that a high finish in Paris is within reach.

Seixas has collected seven victories from only 23 race days this season. He won a stage and placed second overall at the Volta ao Algarve, before taking a solo victory at the Faun Ardèche Classic and finishing runner up at Strade Bianche.

His biggest statement came at Itzulia Basque Country, where he claimed three stages and the overall title. Victory at La Flèche Wallonne followed, before he pushed Tadej Pogačar closest at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and finished second.

His final preparation race brought a setback. Seixas crashed heavily at the Tour Auvergne Rhône Alpes, yet still recovered to place seventh on the stage to Grand Colombier. The pain forced him to withdraw the following day, although medical checks found no serious injury and he has since returned to training. 

The major unknown is now how the 19-year-old will cope with three weeks of racing, but his form across the spring has given Decathlon every reason to aim high.

🇫🇷 Nicolas Prodhomme (29): The French climber enjoyed a breakthrough 2025 campaign with six victories, beginning at the Tour of the Alps, where he crossed the line, arm-in-arm with Seixas. There will be no doubt about Prodhomme's dedication to supporting his teenage compatriot, as he illustrated at Itzulia Basque Country and the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes this season.

🇫🇷 Aurélien Paret-Peintre (30): The French team's second-longest-serving rider currently, Paret-Peintre has always been dependable in the hills and mountains, whether that is from the breakaway or riding his own GC challenge, as he finished 15th in 2021. Paret-Peintre has scored top ten stage finishes in four of his seven Grand Tours, including a stage of the Giro in 2023. 

🇳🇱 Olav Kooij (24): The Dutch sprinter moved to the French team with the motivation of making his Tour debut. While sidelined at the Tour while racing for Visma, Kooij has scored three Giro stage wins in two appearances. However, the Dutchman started his 2026 season later than most, pinning on his first race number for Decathlon in May.

🇺🇸 Matthew Riccitello (24): Following a breakthrough Vuelta last September, where he finished fifth and won the youth classification, Decathlon snapped up the highly sought-after Matthew Riccitello. The American paid back the team's faith immediately by winning a stage and the GC at the Tour de la Provence. Since then, Riccitello has already formed a solid partnership with Seixas, supporting the Frenchman to second at the Volta ao Algarve, before victory at Itzulia Basque Country. 

The same was expected at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, but the American was forced out of the opening stage due to illness. Positively for the team, Riccitello pivoted to the Tour de Suisse, where he finished seventh, indicating that he will be more than ready to support Seixas' Tour ambitions.

🇧🇪 Tiesj Benoot (32): Like Kooij, Benoot made the switch from Visma and was forced into a late debut. However, Benoot established himself as a Tour regular for the Dutch team and will provide plenty of experience for Seixas's GC ambitions.

🇳🇱 Cees Bol (30): Bol heads to his seventh Tour with a clearly defined role in Olav Kooij’s sprint train. Once a winner at WorldTour level himself, the Dutchman has developed into an experienced lead out rider and was part of the setup behind Kooij’s victories this season. He can still produce a result of his own, as eighth place at Kuurne Brussel Kuurne showed, but his priority in July will be delivering Kooij into the best possible position.

🇳🇱 Daan Hoole (27): The Dutch powerhouse is lining up for his sixth Grand Tour, but first lap of France. Hoole is a former Giro stage winner in the time trial discipline, having powered to victory in 2025.