The manner in which Paul Seixas revealed to an expectant world on May 4 that he was going to ride the Tour de France this July said more about his personality than he’d shown at any of his previous public actions. Not for him a corporate press release, nor a statement in a formal setting. No. In a 94-second Instagram video, a playful Seixas is visiting with his paternal grandparents at their home in the French Alps. It soon becomes clear why they’ve chosen this location for the announcement because Grandpa José Manuel and Grandma Suzanne Seixas have their grandson’s multiple racing jerseys decorating the house and 50-or-so of his cups and trophies displayed in the basement.
The video begins with Paul letting their shy cat, Patoune, in the back door; his grandfather is holding a fresh lettuce that he’s likely just picked from the vegetable garden; and younger brother Nino, also wearing a black hoodie, sits next to Paul at the kitchen table. “This is where it all started,” says Paul, who was 8 years old when grandpa introduced him to bike racing. Now, 11 years later, he says, coyly, “I’m here to announce something special…it’s that in July I will be doing a race.”
The conversation continues, in French, with grandma, at the head of the table, stating, “Ah, bon.” (“Oh, good.”). Then, excitedly raising her voice, she adds, “C’est à dire? C’est à dire? Mieux que tu determine…” (“That is to say? That is to say? Best you tell us…”) “Devine” (“Guess”), he replies. And she says, with an exclamation point: “Tour de France!” “Oui,” he replies. There’s an “Oh, wow!” response, with his grandpa observing, “You thought of me at my age, I’m 85, so the years are catching up on me…I am the happiest man in the world.”
(Note: José Manuel’s parents were immigrants to France from Portugal; the family name Seixas is pronounced “say-shush” in Portuguese but “sake-sas” in French.)
After grandpa and grandson watched the Tour de France together all those years ago, inciting the boy’s interest in cycling, Paul joined the Sprint Évolution club back home in Lyon. He began taking part in races on the city’s outdoor concrete velodrome in the Tête d’Or Park. There were also road races on the club’s schedule. Indeed, one of trophies that José shows in the video is from 2018, when the 11-year-old Paul won a beginners’ race, the Prix de Saint-Genis-Pouilly, a town in the foothills of the Jura.
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