Plugge confirms Visma interest in Seixas: 'We think we are the best team to develop him for Grand Tour wins'

Speaking to NOS, Plugge acknowledged that he held a brief conversation with Seixas last year during the Tour de l’Avenir in Tignes. The Visma CEO also made clear why almost every major team in the peloton is watching the 19-year-old so closely.

“First of all, everyone wants to talk to Seixas and everyone wants to have him,” Plugge said. “We have Jonas. Jonas is our big leader at the moment. But we also have to look to the future. We are always developing riders and helping people get better.”

Visma’s interest in Seixas has become one of the major storylines of the transfer market. WielerFlits reported that the team have been in contact with the Frenchman’s camp for close to a year, with discussions also involving his representative Joona Laukka.

The sporting pitch is clear. Visma see Seixas as a potential future Grand Tour leader, but not as someone who would immediately displace Jonas Vingegaard. Instead, the team believe they can offer him a long term development path in an environment that has already produced repeated Grand Tour success.

Plugge pointed to the role Vingegaard now plays inside the team, both as a leader and as a mentor for younger riders.

“Jonas is also doing a lot of coaching already, for example with Piganzoli,” Plugge said. “Of course we do that ourselves as a team too, but Jonas plays a big role in that.”

Asked directly whether he had spoken to Seixas, Plugge did not deny it.

“Yes, I spoke to him last year in Tignes,” he said. “He was there and I was there. It was the Tour de l’Avenir and we spoke very briefly.”

At the same time, Plugge stressed that Visma are aware of Seixas’ current contractual situation.

“He is with Decathlon and he still has a contract there,” Plugge said. “He has to respect his contract and we respect the rules, so we are not concretely working on anything. But if he decides to go to another team, then we think we are the best team to develop him to win Grand Tours.”

That line is likely to sit at the centre of Visma’s case. While other teams may be willing to go further financially, Plugge believes Seixas will ultimately choose the place where his chances of reaching the top are greatest.

Reports have linked Q36.5-Pinarello with a huge offer of around €13 million per season, a figure that would make Seixas the best paid rider in the sport. 

UAE Team Emirates XRG, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Ineos are also among the teams understood to be monitoring the situation. Decathlon CMA CGM, meanwhile, have no intention of losing their new figurehead without a fight. According to Le Parisien, senior figures within the French team have indicated that the team is prepared to compete financially with the biggest offers in the WorldTour.

For Visma, matching the biggest financial offers may not be realistic. Plugge did not pretend otherwise, but he suggested that Seixas is too intelligent to make the decision on money alone.

“We will see,” he said when asked whether Visma could compete with the sums being mentioned. “I think the boy is very sensible, very smart, and he will make a choice based on where he can achieve the best results.”

Plugge then returned to Visma’s record in the races that matter most.

“We have already won Grand Tours with several riders,” he said. “We have won the most Grand Tours of the current teams in the peloton, so we think he has the best chance with us to go on and win Grand Tours.”