Bernard Hinault Weighs Up Paul Seixas and a Tour de France Debut at 19

He’s still just 19 but the calls for Paul Seixas to make his Tour de France debut are growing ever stronger.

Already one of the hottest topics in the sport, the discussions about such a move is ratcheting up another notch.

The reason?

A watt-busting victory in La Flèche Wallonne, and a stunning performance against Tadej Pogačar in Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Sure, Pogačar went on to win, but Seixas gave him a real scare. He matched him on La Redoute, despite the world champion’s best efforts to distance him. He then pulled through hard after the descent, showing both form and determination, and only faded when Pogačar went to the lung-busting limit on the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons.

Was the Slovenian worried? He confirmed on Sunday afternoon that he was.

“On La Redoute I was really going deep,” Pogačar admitted. “I could see he was a little bit on the elastic but at the top he came next to me and I was really impressed. Also he was pulling quite strong all the way and we opened a big gap, which was really good for us.

“I was in the back of my head already preparing to do sprint because he was so strong. But I tried on Roche-aux-Faucons, I tried with my pace and I know the climb really well, it suits me well. Luckily he was dropped, but I was prepared to go head to head in a sprint with him.”

There are few, if any, other riders Pogačar would say the same about on such a testing parcours.

Seixas is clearly a huge talent. But ride the Tour this year?

One renowned expert is tactful about it while hinting it’s not the ideal course of action.

Comparing and contrasting talents and eras

Bernard Hinault is one of cycling’s five-time winners of the Tour. He’s also the last Frenchman to triumph in that race. It’s been a staggering 41 years since someone from the home nation has brought yellow to the final podium, although Laurent Fignon went agonizingly close against Greg LeMond in 1989.

Does Hinault think Seixas should line out in the Tour this year?

“Personally, I’ve always said that I think it would be better to do the Giro d’Italia or the Vuelta a España once to see if he can handle the 21 days of racing,” the Tour legend said, speaking to Europe 1 in recent days.

However he held back from telling Decathlon CMA CGM what to do.

“Ultimately, it’s up to him and his team to decide,” he said.

Normally outspoken, Hinault is being surprisingly tactful. However he is very qualified to express an opinion about this matter. He rode his own first Tour in 1978, and before that made his Grand Tour debut the very same year in the Vuelta a España.

And the outcome? He won the Spanish race and then, two months later, took the Tour de France.

It was an incredible double for someone who had never competed over three weeks before.

What’s worth acknowledging is that there is a clear difference between the two riders. Hinault was 23 years of age at the time, a full four years older than Seixas is now.

He was also in his fourth year as a pro, two years more than his compatriot, and had been deliberately held back until then by his team manager.

That’s why he didn’t enter the Tour in 1977, despite winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Critérium du Dauphiné.

“[It was] for the simple reason that it wasn’t in the program we had made with Cyrille Guimard,” he explained, talking about that decision. “We said we’d come in ‘78, we’d do a Vuelta a España beforehand to see if we could last the 21 days, and from there, if we could last the 21 days, we’d say we could win the Tour.”

Victory in the Vuelta meant that his Tour place was guaranteed. And when he won that race too, it was obvious that one of the best champions of all time had been discovered.

‘He’ll be up against Pogačar, no slouch’

It’s now a distant 41 years since Hinault won his final Tour. He was then, and is now, known as someone with a very strong mind.

That contributed to his nickname of Le Blaireau and, like badgers, he is regarded as self-sufficient, tough and stubborn.

Those qualities plus his physical gifts combined to secure him five wins in the Tour, as well as three Giri d’Italia and two editions of the Vuelta. In all he clocked up 145 victories, amongst them the road world championships and Paris-Roubaix.

What’s remarkable is that in the years since his 1978 Vuelta/Tour double, nobody in the men’s peloton has won their debut Grand Tour.

Instead the trend has been for riders to build experience bit by bit, making their three week debut in the Vuelta a España or the Giro d’Italia, and perhaps limiting their ambitions to a stage win or top ten finish.

That’s understandable. Even Pogačar was ‘only’ third in his first grand tour, the 2019 Vuelta.

So, if he rides, how likely is it for Seixas to defy all expectations and actually win?

Hinault concedes it is very unlikely.

“He’ll be up against someone like Pogačar, who’s no slouch,” he pointed out. “To beat him, I think it will be difficult.”

And that’s the danger. The French media is already hyping Seixas up, heaping considerable pressure on the shoulders of someone who is still a teenager.

Even if the rider is himself hugely ambitious, there is a danger that people will expect way too much way too soon. That in turn carries its own risks.

A word of warning

The history of pro cycling is full of cautionary tales.

There have been several French riders who have been termed the new Hinault, and who have ultimately not delivered on expectations. Jean Francois Bernard shouldered that particular burden around the time Hinault retired.

More recently Richard Virenque and Julian Alaphilippe were hyped by some as future Tour winners, yet ultimately fell short.

And Belgians too have endured the same kind of problem.

Lucien van Impe is the last Tour winner from that country, triumphing way back in 1976. Since then countless riders have been crushed under the tag of being the next Eddy Merckx.

And yet something is really obvious, even at 19 years of age. Seixas is truly a huge talent, a once in a generation phenom.

Hinault is clear that he is the best French rider to emerge in a long, long time.

“You can’t argue with that, considering everything he’s accomplished,” he said. “The World Championship in Kigali, the European Championships where he finished 3rd. I think he’s a very, very good rider.”

And yet he seems a little wary.

“Won’t we burn him out if we make him do too many things at once?”

It’s a valid question, and one Decathlon CMA CGM would be wise to ponder.