you could see it coming. He's almost at the top of the sport and consistent... but has only ever won once and not in a sprint

New GC

Top-10 in Eibar

...as well as the points competition and he now leads the mountains competitions too with one stage to go.

Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM) wins Stage 5 of the Itzulia Basque Country and extends his overall lead in the race

often a great finish with the tight time gaps and the overall leader changes on the final day. He kept looking back but in the end seemed to manage it right

in Germany for sure. Want to see how many fans make the journey for Lipo on the stage that finishes on the Ballon d'Alsace. British fans feeling left out, no broadcaster this year

Top-10 on Stage 4 of the Région Pays de la Loire Tour + Final GC

Antoine L'Hote (Decathlon-CMA CGM) wins Stage 4 of the Région Pays de la Loire Tour and wins the race overall, first win for the 20 year old neo-pro

German public broadcaster ZDF returns to the Tour de France after dropping coverage of the race in 2011 following doping scandals. Lipowitz effect? www.kicker.de/zdf-steigt-n... (🇩🇪)

yes, UAE too. Wrote on my blog a while ago the team could probably finance Seixas' contract extension alone by moving legal entity to Switzerland because of the savings while keeping French ID for the public

I know, saying that EU/Swiss frontier isn't much of an issue. Also see UAE which is legally Swiss etc

Little practical difference, eg NSN Cycling is legally Swiss but has Girona HQ

...not to refute what team says but quintessential Belgian team Soudal-Quickstep has it's HQ in Wevelgem, races under Belgian flag but legally it's registered in Luxembourg. Some other teams do similar. So Decathlon could keep 🇫🇷 flag, HQ etc but switch legal entity behind the team if it wanted.

Decathlon CMA-CGM: la direction démonte la rumeur d'un changement de licence en Suisse et réaffirme son ancrage français Annoncée ce jeudi matin par la presse néerlandaise, l’hypothèse d’un basculement de la licence de l’équipe Decathlon CMA-CGM vers la Suisse a rapidement enflé. Mais face à cette agitation, le directeur général délégué Mathieu Charpentier a fermement démenti tout changement de nationalité.

Decathlon-CMA CGM dismisses the rumour that it would switch nationalities to become a Swiss team and change tax domicile, says it will continue to ride under a French flag and retain its HQ in Chambéry rmcsport.bfmtv.com/cyclisme/uci... (🇫🇷) ...

Top-10

Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) wins the Scheldeprijs

Top-10

Axel Laurance (Ineos) wins Stage 3 of the Itzulia Basque Country

And more. Good lessons in defence and leadership coming up. If he wins more stages or gets the jersey plucked off his back the week will be a big success either way

Lasserpe cartoon in today's L'Equipe asks how far Paul Seixas can go...

just seen, taken out by an ambulance too

Paris-Roubaix cobbled sector ratings from organiser ASO. They're subjective, based on difficulty + distance, eg Moulin-de-Vertain can have cobbles that deliver uppercuts but just 500m so **, while Arenberg, Mons-en-Pevele and Carrefour de l'Arbre get ***** ratings because of rough stones + distance

yes, plenty of trapdoors this week, and the Krabelin climb on Stage 5 around Eibar is savage. But feels like even if he stops the race tomorrow he'll have beaten expectations for the week, looked so strong today that subtleties like tactics didn't count

seems so and his team set him up well on the climb it seems too. I've wondered about his physical growth too and whether he naturally gets heavier, we'll see

Step off long haul flight and scroll the news 🙈 ... then see the news of Seixas torching the field in the Itzulia, woah 🔥

Dan Martin’s autobiography is good on how UAE were often the Lampre team
of old but with a lot of money to spend

agree, it's maybe not their A team to support him but good. Was thinking more about how he leads them, how they work with him etc; and mainly how he copes with the leader's jersey. No week of sprint stages + one summit finish to settle things, things can happen every day

Should be an interesting week for Seixas as he's got the talent and more but the next 5 stages should have plenty of tactical moments to test the 19 year old and his team

Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM) wins Stage 1 ⏱️ of the Itzulia Basque Country, his first World Tour level win.