Paul Seixas hasn\u2019t even started his first Tour de France, and he\u2019s already at the center of what could become the wildest transfer deal in modern cycling.<\/p>\n
Pinarello-Q36.5 has contacted Seixas\u2019 representatives about a possible move after his Decathlon-CMA CGM contract expires at the end of 2027, Daniel Benson reported Friday on Daniel Benson\u2019s Cycling Substack<\/em>.<\/p>\n The number Benson reported is jaw-dropping at around \u20ac13 million per season.<\/p>\n If accurate, it would make the 19-year-old Frenchman the highest-paid rider in the peloton and blow the doors off cycling\u2019s salary market.<\/p>\n That would put him above Tadej Poga\u010dar\u2019s widely reported UAE Emirates-XRG base salary, estimated between \u20ac8 million and \u20ac10 million per season.<\/p>\n No deal is signed, but Benson reported that Seixas\u2019 agent confirmed Pinarello-Q36.5\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n Pinarello-Q36.5 officials did not comment when Velo<\/em> reached out to team officials.<\/p>\n Still, the numbers are staggering for a rider who\u2019s yet to win a grand tour or even start the Tour de France.<\/p>\n Pinarello-Q36.5 has the checkbook to make this happen. The second-tier team is backed by billionaire Ivan Glasenberg and the team has already been making major moves.<\/p>\n The Swiss-based squad signed Tom Pidcock ahead of 2025 and added nearly a dozen riders for 2026 before its Tour de France debut next month.<\/p>\n The massive offer for Seixas \u2014 still unconfirmed \u2014 reveals just how crazy the elite men\u2019s peloton is going over the 19-year-old French phenom.<\/p>\n Benson and other media have linked Seixas to cycling\u2019s richest teams, including UAE Emirates-XRG, Visma-Lease a Bike, Lidl-Trek and Netcompany-Ineos.<\/p>\n Decathlon is expected to fight hard to keep the jewel of its system. Sources told Velo<\/em> the French team is working to sweeten its offer beyond 2027.<\/p>\n Seixas is touted as being the first young rider capable of challenging Poga\u010dar and Jonas Vingegaard for the Tour de France.<\/p>\n If \u20ac13 million per year is truly on the table, cycling\u2019s transfer market just entered a new world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/tour-de-france\/paul-seixas-13-million-transfer-highest-paid-cyclist\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2272629258.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated June 26, 2026 01:41PM Paul Seixas hasn\u2019t even started his first Tour de France, and he\u2019s already at the center of what could become the wildest transfer deal in modern cycling. Pinarello-Q36.5 has contacted Seixas\u2019 representatives about a possible move after his Decathlon-CMA CGM contract expires at the end […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2013398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2013398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2013398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2013398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2013398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The deal would make Seixas cycling\u2019s highest-paid rider<\/h2>\n