'I don’t have the level to beat him' - Seixas on facing Tadej Pogacar in Liège

“I’m here to test my punch,” he said, almost shrugging off the expectations during a press moment in quotes collected by Sporza. “This is something new for me.”

That sense of newness runs through everything. The race, the roads, even the decisive climb. The Mur de Huy, so often replayed on television screens each April, is still largely an unknown in his legs.

“I’ve seen it so many times, but I’ve actually never ridden it before,” he admitted. “Those short efforts of two or three minutes, it’s different. I still have to discover how I respond to that.”

He knows where his strengths lie, but also where the questions begin. A climber by profile, yes, but whether that translates to the explosive gradients of Huy remains to be seen. “I’ve worked on it a bit,” he said. “But not specifically for this race."

Even the setting has taken some adjustment. Belgian racing, with its narrow roads and rough surfaces, left an impression. “I didn’t expect it to be like this,” he said with a faint smile. “The roads are worse than I imagined.”

The expectations around Seixas did not appear out of nowhere. He closed out 2025 with a series of eye catching rides, most notably at the European Championships where he finished third behind Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogačar, and later at Il Lombardia. 

That momentum has carried into 2026. At the Volta ao Algarve he claimed his first professional victory and pushed Juan Ayuso to the limit, while at Strade Bianche he was arguably the strongest rider in the race behind Pogačar. In Itzulia Basque Country he took control of the race in a way that turned heads across the cycling world. 

It is that run of form that now fuels the curiosity around what he might achieve in the Ardennes Classics.

Still, there is no sign of pressure weighing him down. If anything, Seixas appears detached from the noise around him. “I don’t feel any obligation to win,” he said. “I don’t see myself as the main contender.”

His gaze already drifts slightly further down the week, towards Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where the scale of the challenge becomes even clearer. There, the reference point is Tadej Pogačar.

“We’re talking about maybe the best rider ever,” Seixas said. “Right now, I don’t have the level to beat him.”

It is a sober assessment, but not a limiting one. The ambition sits just beneath the surface. “I’m working to become the best,” he added. “But you have to prove that step by step in races.”

For now, Flèche Wallonne is exactly that. Not a statement to be made, but a test to be taken.