Race news
Seixas and world champion McNulty among reported stars for 2026 Saitama Criterium
The 20-year-old Il Lombardia winner and world champion are set to lead a star-studded provisional line-up for the Japanese criterium, organised by Tour de France organisers ASO.
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Szymon Gruchalski / Cor Vos
Paul Seixas and world champion Brandon McNulty are set to headline the start list for the 2026 Saitama Criterium.
The Saitama Criterium, organised by the same company as the Tour de France, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), is hosted in Saitama, Japan, where many stars of La Grande Boucle are invited to participate.
The 2026 edition will take place on Sunday 15 November, featuring a 2.45km city circuit that will be tackled 25 times, resulting in a total race distance of 61.25km.
Last year’s start list included the likes of Primož Roglič, Jonathan Milan, as well as Jonas Vingegaard, who would go on to take the victory despite a crash in the early stages of the criterium.
While the trio aren’t set to return this year, there is still expected to be a star-studded start list to feature in the 2026 edition, including Seixas, who will also feature in the Singapore Criterium alongside Isaac del Toro a week earlier on 8 November.
The French prodigy, at 19 years old, became the youngest rider to start a Tour in 89 years and finished fourth overall in July. Seixas rounded out his road season by becoming the youngest ever winner of Il Lombardia in early October.
He is set to be joined by world champion Brandon McNulty, who played a part in supporting Tadej Pogačar to his fifth yellow jersey this summer, before winning the rainbow jersey in Montréal in September.
McNulty rounded out his campaign with a series of races in Italy, including Il Lombardia where he finished fifth, before soloing to his first victory as world champion in his final race at the Veneto Classic on 18 October.
Other riders on the reported start list for the Saitama Criterium include former Tour stage winners, Jonas Abrahamsen, Thymen Arensman, Michael Matthews, Valentin Paret-Peintre, and Mauro Schmid, Oscar Onley, who finished 4th in 2025 and Torstein Træen, who enjoyed a spell in the yellow jersey in the 2026 edition.
Mark Cavendish, who has won a record 35 Tour stages, is also set to be present in Saitama as an ambassador of the event.
