The first rest day is done; what a first week it has been. As we consider the racing still left to do, I just want to take a minute to look at the mind-blowing statistics surrounding the 19-year-old Frenchman Paul Seixas’ rise to become France’s next big hope.
He may be the youngest rider to start the Tour de France in 89 years; however, he currently sits sixth in the GC; and that is no accident. He is one of the youngest ever to win a WorldTour race, and the youngest-ever winner at La Flèche Wallonne. Not to mention two second places to none other than Tadej Pogačar at Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Strade Bianche.
What’s even more remarkable is that the kit he uses to secure these wins, podiums, and records is so affordable. Decathlon‘s kit provider, Van Rysel (the in-house bike brand of Decathlon), is now well known for offering WorldTour-level products at very affordable prices, including some of the best budget road bikes.
You too can kit yourself out exactly like Paul on a budget with many items our experts highly rate, such as the Van Rysel RCR-F MIPs Helmet.
To further labour the point, let’s put some numbers to it…
Seixas is currently touring France in a pair of £69.99 budget sunglasses. Compare that to Pogačar, who just launched a pair of Titanium Scicon Aeroshade 2.0s, which are nearly £200, or £270 Oakley Velo Kato favoured by Jonas Vingegaard. That’s the case across the board: the RCR-F MIPs Helmet selected by much of the Decathlon team is a mere £129; the most recently updated Met Trenta 3k Carbon MIPS is £350. The RCR-R Road Bike – £10,000 at the top spec, identical to Seixas, and, well, you just can’t buy a Colnago Y1RS with Pogačar’s spec; the closest you will get is a £12,000 Shimano Dura-Ace model, which doesn’t feature his Carbon-Ti chainrings, new ‘aero bottom bracket’ by Bikone or the yet to be released new UCI compliant, Enve SES Pro wheels.
In fact, the only thing Seixas chooses not to use from Van Rysel is the company’s best cycling shoes, and opts for a Giro Empire SLX II lace-up. Given how important shoes are to bike fit, this is, for the time being, at the very least, a personal choice, and most likely because VR doesn’t currently cater to that top end of the market… just yet.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Everything I have featured in this piece has, at some point this season, been used by the Decathlon CMA CGM team or Sexias himself – many products also come highly rated by our experts, for example, the Van Rysel RCR-F helmet.
Decathlon’s Van Rysel range of products is not widely available outside the UK and Europe, so for our readers in the US, check the box below to see what is on offer, as some retailers like REI do stock some bikes like the Van Rysel GRVL AF gravel bikes and the RCR helmets.
Explore More
