The young French sensation ready to shake up cycling – and challenge Tadej Pogacar’s reign

Modern sport is obsessed with exclusive clubs: take tennis’ much-lauded ‘Big Three’, the all-conquering trio of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Cycling has various permutations that never quite stick: a Big Six, a Big Five, Big Four, and now increasingly – with Primoz Roglic in the somewhat drawn-out twilight of his career – a Big Three of Tadej Pogacar , Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel . Cycling’s problem is that Pogacar stands alone; a Big One is a daft idea.

But the last few weeks of ever-ratcheting hype have given rise to the idea that, if not now, certainly in the next couple of years, a new Big Two could dominate. And this weekend’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege is its first litmus test. 27-year-old Pogacar is in his prime, no longer the dazzling young upstart.

His potential has been realised. But Paul Seixas? A wholly different story.

Some readers may not be familiar with the young Frenchman, although those numbers will be diminishing as rapidly as he pedals uphill. The 19-year-old only took his first WorldTour victory this month, at Itzulia Basque Country, a stage race in which he joined luminaries including Roglic, Juan Ayuso, and two other young sensations, Isaac del Toro and Florian Lipowitz on the start list. Del Toro was second in last year’s Giro d’Italia , Lipowitz third at the Tour de France ; Seixas blew them all out of the water, winning the individual time trial, two gruelling mountain stages, and all four classifications, wearing yellow from stage two until the end.