Seixas transfer race intensifies: Visma in talks for a year as Decathlon ready to match top offers
Visma | Lease a Bike have been in contact with Paul Seixas for almost a year as the battle to sign the French prodigy grows into one of the biggest transfer stories in modern cycling, according to a report by WielerFlits.
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The Dutch team first made its interest known last summer, when team manager Richard Plugge spoke with Seixas in Tignes. Since then, talks have continued with the rider and his representative Joona Laukka, WielerFlits reports.
Visma sees Seixas as a potential future Grand Tour leader. Their pitch is not built around winning a financial auction, but around giving him a clear sporting pathway according to WielerFlits. The idea would be for Seixas to develop alongside Jonas Vingegaard, in a structure similar to the one that helped Vingegaard grow under Primoz Roglic from 2021 onwards.
That sporting argument matters because the money now being discussed elsewhere has reached extraordinary levels and won't be something that Visma is able to match.
Q36.5 Pinarello, backed by billionaire Ivan Glasenberg, has emerged as one of the most aggressive suitors. The Swiss team is said to be willing to offer Seixas close to €13 million per season according to Daniel Benson, a figure that would make him the highest paid rider in professional cycling.
The team already made a major statement by signing Tom Pidcock ahead of the 2025 season, but landing Seixas would take its ambitions to a different level.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Netcompay-Ineos are also among the teams to have shown interest, while Decathlon CMA CGM have no intention of letting their new figurehead leave without a fight. In an interview with Le Parisien, senior figures inside the French team described Seixas as a strategic priority and indicated they are prepared to compete financially with the biggest offers in the WorldTour.
The scale of the pursuit reflects how quickly Seixas has moved from promise to genuine star power. Still only 19, he has become the focal point of French cycling’s next generation and one of the most coveted riders in the peloton.
His 2026 season has only strengthened that status. Victories at the Faun Ardèche Classic, the Tour of the Basque Country and La Flèche Wallonne have been followed by podium level performances in some of the sport’s most demanding one day races. His second places at Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège were particularly significant, especially after he managed to stay with Tadej Pogačar on La Redoute.
In France, those results have naturally raised expectations. Seixas is increasingly being viewed as the rider who could eventually end the country’s long wait for a Tour de France winner, a wait that stretches back to Bernard Hinault’s victory in 1985.
The next serious phase of talks is expected after the Tour de France, where Seixas is currently making his debut. Until then, the race for his signature will continue in the background, with almost every major team watching closely.
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