“Paul Seixas should not aim for a podium spot at the 2026 Tour de France”

French cycling has a new dilemma, and it arrived through pain. Paul Seixas went into the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the former Critérium du Dauphiné, as the clear fan favourite. He left it with his reputation intact but his Tour de France plan in question. Now, three weeks before his Grand Tour debut, the question is simple: should a 19-year-old chase a podium in Paris, or treat July as a year to learn and hunt stage wins? The cautious case is led by Marc Madiot, the former FDJ boss who once held Thibaut Pinot back until he was 22. "He's learning, but the problem with learning is that he's thrown in at the deep end before he's even finished splashing around," Madiot told RMC. He drew a sharp contrast with Isaac del Toro, the rider who beat Seixas at the Dauphiné. "Del Toro is all about management, development and putting things in place for the next Tour. Seixas is all fire and passion. He's inspiring, but I can see him expending an enormous amount of energy." The race itself gave that caution some weight. Seixas lost 45 seconds in the team time trial. When he attacked in the mountains, he could drop everyone except Del Toro, who is set to ride July as Tadej Pogačar's domestique rather than a team leader. Then came a heavy crash on a stage 7 descent, at around 70 km/h by the team's own estimate, which left him unable to grip the bars and forced him out of the race the next day. Against Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard over three weeks, the margins look daunting. His team prefers to frame all of this as education. "Sometimes, we learn faster through pain," directeur sportif Julien Jurdie told L'Équipe, playing down the crash. Seixas, for his part, shows no appetite for caution. He went to his home race "going for the win," and even started the final stage insisting that "nothing is impossible" before his injuries ended the day. That spirit is exactly why many fans want him to aim high. This is a teenager who dominated the Ardèche Classic, lit up Itzulia Basque Country and won Flèche Wallonne, then chased back from four minutes down after his crash to limit his losses on the Grand Colombier. France has not had a home Tour winner since Bernard Hinault in 1985, and the comparisons with Hinault are already being made. Hold a talent like this back, the argument goes, and you waste the fire that makes him special. So the sport is pulled two ways. Protect a 19-year-old, manage his development carefully and target stage wins, or back his ambition and let a rare talent measure himself against the best, crash risks and all. Should Paul Seixas chase a podium at the 2026 Tour de France, or use his debut to learn and hunt stages? And if he holds back now, does he risk losing the very fearlessness that got him here? What's your take?