Teenager Paul Seixas continues to overcome all the challenges thrown at him on his debut Tour de France. Finishing third on the brutal and dangerous stage 10 behind Le Lioran, the Frenchman moved up to fifth place in the GC standings.
The youngest starter in the race in 89 years, Seixas is aiming for a podium finish on his first lap of his home country. He is still on course to fight for the podium as he entered week two on Tuesday, level with all but Tadej Pogačar on a tricky Bastille Day in the Massif Central.
Seixas was not overly aggressive, and throughout the tenth stage he showed maturity beyond his 19 years, and did not explode when Pogačar made his winning solo move with 15.5 km to go. He then bided his time in the final to take third place in the sprint and take four bonus seconds with it.
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“I think not all third places in the Tour taste the same, but this one is definitely special,” Seixas explained at the finish, as reported Team.
“The Tourmalet stage was really for the climbers. Today was a stage for strong riders. Shorter and more chaotic attempts. To be able to be present on both types of terrain is a great achievement.
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“The tour is still long, you have to know when to stop. Naturally, everyone tried their best. I didn’t think about whether I should take the white T-shirt or not. I just wanted to get to the finish line, try to gain as much time as possible and get to the finish line as quickly as possible.”
Seixas may be 4:35 behind the current mark he hopes to one day reach race leader Pogačar, but he is just 13 seconds behind Juan Ayuso in fourth, 29 seconds behind Remco Evenepoel in third and just 59 seconds behind second place, currently held by Jonas Vingegaard.
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These are the names he was expected to compete with at the Tour, but talk and hope are one thing; actually performing and dealing with all the pressure that comes with being a French super talent is a different story. Seixas appears to have a measure of everything for now, even as he approaches the unknowns of competing in a race lasting more than 10 days.
Stage 10 saw almost everything go wrong for Seixas, however, as he had a moment in third after the final descent of the Puy Marie Pas de Peyrols climb, which certainly caused him to be somewhat shaken up on the way to the finish in Le Lioran as his equipment began to fail.
“Nico (Prodomme), Matthew (Riccitello), Thies (Benut) and Aurélien (Pare-Paintre) positioned me perfectly throughout the climb. The descent was extremely dangerous,” Seixas said.
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“The hadronized coating, in my opinion, has melted. I felt my rear wheel slipping without even leaning into the turn. I completely lost my bearings. The descent was like a skating rink. Fortunately, at that moment we were ahead. We weren’t trying to do anything rash.
“A lot of riders didn’t think about how to cope with the climb. They gave it their all from the very beginning. After that we let Jonas (Wingegaard) ride because he had the most to lose. He got us to the finish line.”
Accordingly, the press room at Le Lioran was actually in the skating rink, or patio as Seixas would say in his native French, but Seixas would have been happy to spend the day with the main chase group rather than somewhere down the road with wounds to tend to.
At this point, after some serious testing from his GC rivals, Seixas seems more than ready for the challenge. How much better can he do as the race heads to the heights of the Vosges and the French Alps, where the overall result and the young Frenchman’s debut finish will be decided?
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