Now, there is probably not a direct link between that Il Lombardia performance and the transfer market, but the race seemed to confirm all the hype surrounding Seixas. Now, everyone at Decathlon – almost everyone in the sport, in fact – assumes on perhaps not enough evidence that Seixas is the second coming of Pogačar. To keep him, the team may even relocate to Switzerland to avoid France’s heavy tax burden.
In the meantime, they signed some exceptional climbers and potential domestiques, including Ben O’Connor, who has won four Grand Tour stages and came second in the 2024 Vuelta; Pavel Sivakov, who was one of Tadej Pogačar’s strongest and most valuable domestiques; and Laurens de Plus, who was a valued domestique with Netcompany INEOS’s before falling out of favour. They are great additions to a support team that performed well, if not spectacularly, at this year’s Tour, in which the 20-year-old Seixas finished fourth.
Decathlon had to replace two superior climbers, Felix Gall and Gregor Mühlberger, who signed with Lidl-Trek (see below); but Seixas must be impressed: O’Connor and Sivakov are legitimate stars and didn’t come cheap. But the people at Decathlon know that to convince Seixas to stay, they will have to continue to prove to the young man that they have a support team for him as strong as the one at Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates–XRG – which includes the world champion, Brandon McNulty.
The other teams
Lidl-Trek apparently also wants Seixas and has gone on a huge shopping spree, signing Igor Arrieta, Jordan Jegat, Georg Zimmermann, Filippo Ganna, Mühlberger, and Gall. That may be to help their main man this year, Juan Ayuso, who had a disappointing and injury-plagued first season with the team, registering only two wins. Or they want Gall – who finished second in the Giro and third in the Vuelta this year – to be a team co-leader with Ayuso. Or it is a long game and targeting Seixas. Time will tell, but whatever they are planning, they’re prepared for it.
No one needs a superstar as urgently as Netcompany INEOS. Of its 36 wins this year, only one was in a Grand Tour stage, and that was Filippo Ganna’s time trial victory in the Giro d’Italia. But Ganna’s gone. So, the team is apparently cleaning house, with 16 riders gone or not yet signed and, as of this writing, nine new riders taken aboard, including Michael Valgren, Harold Tejada, Javier Romo, Clément Champoussin, and Markel Beloki. These are all good to excellent climbers. But if they are all to be domestiques, who are they supposed to be supporting?
The only possibility is Oscar Onley, who came fourth in the 2025 Tour. However, at 24, Onley’s limits are clear. He may one day win the Vuelta, maybe, but never the Tour. Do they have enough money to attract Seixas? Netcompany co-founder and CEO André Rogaczewski has stated that the team’s goal is to win the Tour de France within a five-year window – with the help of AI. You can have all the AI in the universe, but if you haven’t got a champion rider, you’re not going to win the Tour.
What about UAE Team Emirates–XRG, who have been the most vocal about wanting to sign Seixas and already have the necessary support team? I don’t think Seixas will be tempted by UAE because of the presence of Isaac del Toro on the team, which would create a difficult situation for both young riders because they both want to be team leaders. Del Toro has always assumed that he was Pogačar’s heir on the team and must be seething because of all the chatter about UAE wanting Seixas.
Does UAE’s interest in Seixas suggest that they have decided that del Toro doesn’t measure up or do they just want to corner the market on young superstars? I don’t know, but I can’t imagine del Toro wanting to stay if Seixas is signed or Seixas wanting to be part of such a setup.
The best solution
For my part, I hope Seixas stays where he is, with his French team, which is generously investing in him. But the reason I hope he stays with Decathlon has nothing to do with the team or any other team. I just think that the moment Seixas makes it clear that he is looking for a new team, it will unleash a furious bidding war among the few teams that can afford him: Decathlon, Lidl-Trek, INEOS, UAE and perhaps even Remco Evenepoel’s Red Bull–BORA-hansgrohe,
A bidding war would be great for Seixas and other top riders because it would immediately inflate salaries and raise the bar even higher on team budgets. That would be a disaster for the sport because it would increase the chasm between the haves and the have-nots and perhaps even cause some smaller teams now teetering on the financial edge to fall off into oblivion. So I hope Decathlon make their young superstar an offer he can’t refuse and that the money they offer him will only inflate salaries 10 or 15 percent. For the good of the sport.