Rumours linking UAE Team Emirates-XRG to Paul Seixas have been swirling in the Belgian media, loud enough that Patrick Lefevere used his Nieuwsblad column to urge the young rider to sign anywhere but UAE. Now a new twist has emerged: a transfer between the same two teams, for a French rider but involving a different name entirely, and in the other direction.
According to L'Equipe, Pavel Sivakov will move from UAE to Decathlon on a three-year contract from 2027. The signing appears designed to send a message to Seixas, whose contract expires at the end of 2027, that Decathlon are building something worth staying for, even as UAE and reportedly Ineos Grenadiers circle the 19-year-old rising star.
Sivakov has had an interesting career arc, going from a young super talent winning the under-23 Giro d'Italia, the Ronde de l'Isard and the Giro della Valle d’Aosta in 2017, to that of a super domestique for Tadej Pogačar at UAE starting in 2024.
At the end of 2025, Sivakov shared with Cyclingnews that he still had ambitions and is “trying to find a good balance, avoid the mistakes and so be there all year and perform.”
Sivakov and Seixas have history together: they rode alongside each other as part of the French team at last year's UEC Road European Championships, where the young man finished third behind only Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel, and the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda, where Seixas finished 13th as the top-placed Frenchman.
Also reportedly on Decathlon's radar is Jordan Jegat, another member of that French squad in Rwanda. His TotalEnergies contract expires this year, and a tenth-place finish at the 2025 Tour de France makes him an interesting prospect as a mountain domestique for Seixas. L’Equipe reports that discussions are well underway and moving in the right direction to bring 26-year-old Jegat to the French WorldTour squad.
