At 18, Lyonnais Paul Seixas wins the Tour de l'Avenir

He answered the call: announced as the favorite for the Tour de l'Avenir, the 18-year-old French prodigy Paul Seixas won the 61st edition of this flagship under-23 competition by dominating the final time trial on the climb of La Rosière.

Seixas had suffered a drop in form in the high mountains, which is his preferred terrain, during the two previous stages, but he was able to find the resources necessary to win by crushing the time trial (10.4 km at 6.6%).

He finished ahead of Belgian Jarno Widar and Norwegian Jorgen Nordaghen in the overall standings. Still leading before the final stage, fellow Frenchman Maxime Decomble lost time in the time trial but still finished 5th in the Tour. The 2024 junior time trial world champion, the first French rider to win this title, achieved another prestigious success among the youth category, and fueled the expectations already weighing on his shoulders by becoming the first Frenchman since David Gaudu (2016) to win on the roads of the Tour de l'Avenir.

" I didn't think I'd win like this with such a big lead. Even at 90% of my fitness, I'm capable of winning the Tour de l'Avenir, so it's magnificent ," said the Décathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider after the stage.

In the morning, the first part of the stage, a 41.6 km loop, allowed Jarno Widar to regain 5 seconds on Paul Seixas. The day before, the Belgian had already gained 5 seconds on the Frenchman, after his victory in Tignes 2100.

The 18-year-old from Lyon, who finished eighth in the Critérium du Dauphiné in June behind the stars of the professional peloton, succeeds Briton Joseph Blackmore in the event's list of winners, where other big names such as Tadej Pogacar (2018) and Egan Bernal (2017) have won, before setting out on a bright future in the Tour de France.

The yellow jersey never left the French shoulders in this Tour de l'Avenir since Paul Seixas wore it during the 2nd stage after his victory in the prologue at the end of a three-kilometer climb towards Tignes 1800, before giving it to Maxime Decomble.