Seixas embraces attacking racing ahead of Itzulia queen stage - 'There's always fun in cycling'

Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) has emphasised that his racing philosophy is all about having fun, as the Frenchman prepares to defend his commanding lead at Itzulia Basque Country on stage 5, the queen stage.

Based on the previous four stages, Seixas looks well up to the task, but he understands the importance of getting the job done, as he looks to secure the first WorldTour stage race success of his career.

The 19-year-old Frenchman would become the youngest male winner of a WorldTour stage race and the first teenager to do so, surpassing Tadej Pogačar, who won the Tour of California in 2019 at 20 years old.

“Today is a hard stage, and of course, there will be a lot of attacks. I’ll wait for them, and I think I’m ready, and I guess we will see, but there are strong opponents, and we saw it yesterday,” Seixas said to CyclingProNet at the sign-on.

Seixas has made the race his own in more ways than one. After crushing his rivals in the time trial on the opening stage, the Frenchman then illustrated his climbing capabilities by soloing to victory on stage 2. 

After back-to-back stage wins, the next day saw a display of control when he led home the GC group up the final drag to the finish, refusing to let anyone get one over on him, before he used his descending skills to break clear on stage 4. 

It’s clear that Seixas is a natural-born racer, and when asked if attack or defence will be his strategy on the queen stage, the Frenchman highlighted that his philosophy is to have fun, indicating more attacks are on the horizon.

“There’s always fun in cycling, and of course, I don’t know the downhill today, so maybe it will be different,” explained Seixas. “I know that I can have some fun always, and in the climbs, I guess we’ll see, there will be attacks, and I’m ready for it.”

Ahead of the stage, the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe duo of Primož Roglič and Florian Lipowitz sit closest to Seixas in the standings, at 2:19 and 2:28, respectively. 

While the Frenchman holds a handsome buffer over his nearest contenders, he stated that the Red Bull duo were the biggest threat when asked by reporters, acknowledging the numbers game that the German team can play. 

“I think it’s Red Bull, with Roglič and Lipowitz; they can be strong together, and we’ll see how they want to attack.

Another incentive for Seixas, not that he likely will need it, is that he could become the first Frenchman since 2007 to win a WorldTour stage race GC, following Christophe Moreau's success at the Critérium du Dauphiné.