Paul Seixas has stirred France with his bronze medal at the 2025 European Road Cycling Championships on home soil. At the grueling European Championship, the 19-year-old top talent fought his way to third place, behind champions like Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel. This European Championship achievement by Seixas is not entirely unique, but on the road race, he is indeed the first.
Winning a medal at the European Championships as a first-year WorldTour pro? In recent history, two other riders have done so as well, albeit in the European time trial. Remco Evenepoel was also just 19 years old and in his first professional year during the title battle in Alkmaar 2019. He beat Kasper Asgreen and Edoardo Affini in the Netherlands then.
In 2023, Joshua Tarling repeated that feat by flying to the gold medal at the European time trial in Emmen. He too was 19 years old and in his first year as a professional cyclist. With a large lead, he outpaced Stefan Bissegger and Wout van Aert in that time trial championship.
Paul Seixas did not win, unlike Evenepoel and Tarling, but he is the first 19-year-old and first-year pro to win a medal at the European Road Championships in the elite men’s road race. Standing on the podium alongside Pogačar and Evenepoel only makes his achievement even more impressive.
'My best day ever on the bike, this is insane'
"This is really amazing," was Seixas’s first reaction to NOS. "When I got up this morning, I wasn’t thinking about this at all. We had a strong team, but to stand on the podium with these riders... That’s insane, it’s a dream! It was very tough. Riding so close to them, that’s incredible. It was the best day on the bike for me, ever. I don’t know how—maybe because I was close to home and everyone was cheering for me. I had to give everything and have no regrets."
"The last climb was so hard. I went full gas and didn’t think about what could happen; I gave my all. Near the finish, I thought about all the people along the roadside. I had to give 110% today," said the Frenchman. "Pogačar congratulated me after the finish, and that is something I will treasure. Whenever I see him race, now I get to stand next to him. Today my dream came true.
