New format for race that starts on Saturday could present Ireland’s Ben Healy with chance to get among the early contendersNineteen-year-old Paul Seixas will carry most of the home country's hopes in this year's Tour de France. Photograph: David Pintens/ Belga Mag/Belga/AFP via Getty Images Fri Jul 03 2026 - 15:00 • 4 MIN READWhen L’Équipe plastered the baby-faced Paul Seixas all over the front page of Thursday’s edition under the headline Faire Vibrer les Français cet été – thrilling the French this summer – they were certain about one thing: the 113th edition of the Tour de France may be Tadej Pogacar’s race to lose, but for them it’s all eyes on Seixas, and that’s plenty good for now.Already hailed as the saviour of French cycling, the 19-year-old from Lyon will be the youngest rider to debut at the Tour since 1937 and is more than two years younger than any other rider among the 23 teams. No one is saying Seixas has the strength or maturity yet to challenge Pogacar over the course of 3,333km and 21 stages, but if he continues his trajectory and learns from the experience it may only be a couple more years before he becomes the first French winner of the Tour since Bernard Hinault in 1985.The fact Seixas is riding for French team Decathlon CMA CGM brings further attention and pressure, which he himself told L’Équipe is both understandable and something to embrace. After finishing runner-up to Pogacar at Strade Bianche, then winning the Tour of the Basque Country, he certainly looks capable of claiming a stage victory.“This pressure, which is actually quite positive, is something I put on myself enough,” Seixas said, now fully recovered from a crash at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes last month. “I don’t take on other people’s pressure; it’s my own. I’m often quite ambitious, I have my own ideas about what I want to do and how I want to do it, and that’s pressure enough as it is.“I keep telling myself I have to enjoy it, even though it’s a very tough, very difficult race. It will be a good experience. I’m coming with the idea that it remains a childhood dream and that I have to make the most of it.”Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar during a training session in Castelldefels, south of Barcelona, on Thursday. Photograph: Jeff Pachoud/AFP via Getty Images Hinault, remember, is part of the Club des Cinq – as the four-strong circle of five-time Tour winners are known in France – along with Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain. At age 27, Pogacar is unquestionably at the peak of his powers as he seeks to join that exclusive club by adding to his wins in 2020, 2021, 2024 and last year – when he won by four minutes and 24 seconds ahead of Jonas Vingegaard, the average speed of 42.85km/ph the fastest in Tour history.Vingegaard is the only rider to break Pogacar’s cycle, winning in 2022 and 2023, which means they’ve shared the last six Tour wins between them. There’s little to suggest the next three weeks won’t boil down to these two yet again, possibly all the way to the penultimate stage on July 25th. That stage will see a finish for the second successive day on Alpe d’Huez, after also taking in the Croix de Fer, the Col du Galibier and the Col de Sarenne, a monster mountain stage even by the Tour’s loftiest of heights.This year’s Tour hits the hills early on, starting with Saturday’s opening 20km team time trial in Barcelona – the 27th foreign start since 1954 – which finishes on Montjuic next to the 1992 Olympic Stadium. Under a new format, individual times will count at the finish, which could present Ireland’s Ben Healy with the chance to get among the early contenders.Despite withdrawing after stage seven of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes last month, Healy is confident he is approaching form similar to that which enabled him to win stage six last year and wear the leader’s yellow jersey for two days.“Even half that success would still be a successful Tour in my eyes,” Healy said this week. “There’s not too much pressure, I just want to be up front and in a fight for a stage win, maybe even two.”Healy might be more of a marked rider this year, but there are ample stages that lend themselves to his aggressive breakaway tactics, possibly as early as stage three. But Seixas might fancy that one too.Ben Healy riding on stage 14 of last year's Tour de France. Photograph: Tim de Waele/Getty Images Tour de France – 5 riders to watchTadej Pogacar (Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates-XRG): Last year was the most calculated of his four Tour wins so far, Pogacar simply maintaining control in the last week. Everything about his form in the spring classics, despite narrowly losing Paris-Roubaix, suggests his dominance will continue.Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark, Visma-Lease A Bike): There’s no doubt crashes and disrupted build-up weakened his challenge over the last two Tours, but the 29-year-old is back to his confident best, winning the Giro d’Italia last month by more than five minutes. If Pogacar falters, Vingegaard will be there to pounce.Remco Evenepoel (Belgium, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe): Third in 2024, Evenepoel remains one of the best all-round riders in the peloton, even if his form is often wildly unpredictable. Team-mate Florian Lipowitz from Germany may well have similar general-classification ambitions, which might well bring out the best in Evenepoel, which is always fun to watch.Isaac del Toro (Mexico, UAE Team Emirates-XRG): It says a lot about the strength of UAE Team Emirates that one of Pogacar’s chief rivals may well be his team-mate, even if Del Toro is there in a supporting role. Tactical naivety cost him the Giro d’Italia last year, but if his intention is to help take Pogacar all the way to Paris, that presents another podium prospect.Ben Healy (Ireland, EF Education-EasyPost): Healy hasn’t enjoyed a smooth Tour build-up, sustaining a sacral fracture in April during the Itzulia Basque Country. But the 25-year-old won’t be allowing that to hold him back, the punchy nature of the Tour route certain to encourage his breakaway racing style.IN THIS SECTION