Teenage sensation is a fearless racer but taking on Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard is setting the bar very high

Paul Seixas may be the youngest Tour de France debutant since 1937, but he is not lacking in confidence. Reminded of the scale of the challenge facing him, in hoping to usurp the dominant four-time champion, Tadej Pogacar, he said calmly: “There are different ways to win a cycling race.”

Seixas fever is running high in Barcelona on the eve of the Tour, even if the 19-year-old says that he “won’t take risks for anything other than the general classification.”

• ‘It’s very much on our mind’: Tour’s technical director

• Extreme weather could affect the peloton on Sunday

The 2026 Tour de France, which starts in Barcelona on Saturday, is steeling itself for climate change disruption with another extreme heatwave predicted to return to Europe in the coming days which could lead to stages being cancelled.

“It’s something that’s very much on our mind,” said Thierry Gouvenou, the Tour’s technical director. “It’s not the first time we have faced this, but this time it’s worse because of what we have already experienced in May and June.”