Teenage prodigy Paul Seixas will start the Tour de France this July.

Teenage super-talent Paul Seixas will make his Tour de France debut this July, his team confirmed on Monday.

Speculation has been rife for months as to whether the 19-year-old Frenchman will return to action after a string of impressive results in Barcelona this summer or whether his Decathlon-CMA CGM squad will protect him from the weight of expectations – particularly the home favourite by the French press – and the gruelling physical challenge of riding the Tour, a grand age for such a trio of youngsters.

Saxas is only in his first full season as a professional rider and has never ridden in a Grand Tour. But he made headlines with some notable performances, winning the Itzulia Basque Country stage race and La Flèche Wallonne in April, as well as finishing second – behind only Tadej Pogačar – in the Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

His victory in the Basque Country made him the first Frenchman to win a World Tour-level stage race since Christophe Moreau won the 2007 Criterium du Dauphin, as he claimed all four jerseys and won three stages.

These results, along with the maturity of his performances – particularly his ability and willingness to compete with Pogačar – mean he is already being touted as the successor to Bernard Hinault, the last Frenchman to win the Tour de France in 1985.

Decathlon has previously indicated that its summer programme will be reassessed after the Ardennes Classics, with the best results more likely to start the tour there.

The team released a video of Sexas sharing news of his plans to ride the Tour with his grandparents, with the caption “J’ai quelque chose à vous annoncer… I have something to tell you.”

The Lyon teenager has previously said his biggest dream is to win the Tour de France. The race starts in Barcelona on July 4 and ends in Paris on July 26 this year.

Defending champion Pogačar lines up as the undisputed favourite after another impressive spring campaign, with his main rivals, Jonas Vingegaard and Remko Evenepoel, expected to challenge.

Decathlon will have reason to hope for a podium finish and stage win for the youngster after Sachs’ excellent start to the season, while from a more commercial perspective his participation will promote the French-based team.