Why Paul Seixas might yet dictate Emmanuel Macron’s agenda on Monday

What Paul Seixas did on the Mur de Huy belonged firmly to the latter. The hype had been building for months, but this time it had something solid to rest on. A debut and a commanding climb, delivered with total conviction.

In a race that usually rewards experience and patience, Seixas rode with the assurance of someone who already understood it. Nineteen years old, already setting the terms, and in doing so becoming the youngest winner in history and only the second rider, after Marc Hirschi, to win on debut.

His directeur sportif Julien Jurdie captured the mood succinctly afterwards speaking to Sporza. “Paul finished it in a magical way. To do this at 19 is incredible. He is a great champion like Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel, riders who can win both stage races and one day races.”

Seixas himself was similarly understated afterwards. “I used to watch this race on TV, and now I win here. That’s really something special. First participation, first victory. Incredible.”

It sounded like a rider still coming to terms with his own ability. The same restraint had been evident in the days before the race. At the press conference, he played down his status with ease. “I don’t feel any obligation to win. I don’t see myself as the main contender.”

Some of that caution stemmed from doubts about the effort itself. “Those short efforts of two or three minutes, it’s different. I still have to discover how I respond to that.”

That, too, can be ticked off now. As can descending and time trialling, after his display at the Itzulia Basque Country, where he revealed a completeness that is becoming harder to define, and harder still to question.

Seixas’ extraordinary development only heightens the anticipation for the weekend, adding another layer to Remco Evenepoel’s pursuit of Tadej Pogačar.

Over the past two decades, Liège-Bastogne-Liège has, at times, seemed to lose a little of its pull compared to the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. That would have been almost unthinkable at the end of the last century, when duels between Frank Vandenbroucke, Michele Bartoli and Michael Boogerd gave the race its edge.

This Sunday, however, it feels like a Monument of that same calibre again, with the French prodigy at its centre.

Seixas himself has already managed expectations with some care, pointing to Pogačar as the clear favourite in the press conference ahead of La Flèche Wallonne. “We’re talking about maybe the best rider ever,” he said. “Right now, I don’t have the level to beat him.”

After his victory in Huy, the tone shifted, if only slightly. “Sunday against Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel, that’s a different race. I’ll try to give my very best, but today is already a sign that I am in form.”

Seixas had already made an impression at the end of last year, notably at the European Championships and Il Lombardia, albeit from a respectful distance. Over the winter, however, he appears to have taken a significant step forward, and the time now feels right to place him much closer in the equation, at least alongside Evenepoel, and by extension, Pogačar.

Does that mean a victory for Seixas at Liège-Bastogne-Liège should be expected? Certainly not. But it does seem increasingly likely that he will shape the race. For a nineteen year old, that would already be notable in a Monument, the kind of influence many riders take years to reach, if they reach it at all.

And in doing so, combined with his display on the Mur de Huy, Seixas is set to grow into an even bigger national figure after this weekend.

Last week, reports began to circulate, most notably via Eurosport España, suggesting that Emmanuel Macron had personally intervened in Seixas’ future.

According to the claim, Macron had made contact with Seixas’ management in an effort to encourage him to continue his development within a French team, at a time when interest from outfits like UAE Team Emirates XRG is intensifying.

The story quickly gained traction, not least because it echoed a familiar pattern. Macron has not shied away from stepping into elite sport before, most notably when he played a direct role in persuading Kylian Mbappé to remain at Paris Saint-Germain.

In France, it was dismissed as a “crazy Spanish rumour.” And it probably is.

If there is even a grain of truth to it, however, Emmanuel Macron might want to keep Monday clear.