Seixas soars to stunning victory on Flèche Wallonne debut

Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) powered to victory atop the Mur de Huy to win the 2026 La Flèche Wallonne on debut, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the race.

As is often the case, the race would be decided between a reduced peloton on the final ascent of the Mur de Huy. With the absence of Tadej Pogačar, a huge opportunity presented itself for those on the start list, and Seixas duly made it count. 

The Frenchman led from the front on the final ascent of the Mur de Huy and launched his first acceleration after the steep S-Bend, before kicking once more with an attack that nobody could match.

Seixas powered his way all the way to the finish line to take a convincing victory, while Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) came home for 2nd and Ben Tulett (Visma | Lease a Bike) took 3rd.

For Seixas, it marks the seventh victory of his stellar 2026 season, and another important stepping stone ahead of making his Liège-Bastogne-Liège debut on Sunday.

The day’s breakaway included Sjoerd Bax (Pinarello-Q36.5), Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies), Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural), Jardi Christiaan van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost), and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility). 

The action began to heat up on the final lap, with just one lap of the Mur de Huy to go. There was a crash with 20km remaining which involved former champion Marc Hirschi (Tudor), and another just a couple of minutes later with 18km to go.

Kévin Vauquelin (Ineos) who finished runner-up in the previous two editions had to receive the bike of his teammate Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) inside the final 20km, and the Frenchman would finish the race on said machine.

Leknessund was the final rider remaining from the breakaway and the Norwegian champion was reeled in by the peloton with 6km remaining, after leading the race from the opening kilometres.

One of the many French pre-race contenders, Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), was distanced on the Côte de Cherave with 6km remaining.

The battle for position on the run-in to the Mur de Huy was chaotic, with Ewen Costiou opening an advantage inside the final 2km. The Frenchman would be wheeled in on the lower slopes of the climb as Decathlon led under the flamme rouge. 

Seixas was positioned right at the front of affairs alongside Ben Tulett (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) as the riders turned onto the steepest section of the climb, the S-Bend.

Seixas launched his first acceleration following the S-Ben, with Tulett able to initially respond before the Frenchman began to open a gap, and wouldn’t be caught, becoming the youngest winner of La Flèche Wallonne.