Decathlon update suggests Tour de France remains on track for Paul Seixas

Seixas crashed early on stage 7 but managed to regain contact with the peloton after a lengthy chase supported by his Decathlon CMA CGM teammates. He eventually lost just over a minute on the final ascent of the Grand Colombier.

Despite suffering cuts to his hand and elbow that appeared to affect his bike handling, the 19-year-old returned for stage 8. He started the day sixth overall, 1:54 behind race leader Luke Tuckwell of Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe.

Seixas struggled from the opening climb of the Col du Pré and was soon dropped from the yellow jersey group. He later abandoned the race.

On Sunday night, his French team released a statement explaining that Seixas had been instructed to avoid taking any risks.

“After a good night’s rest, Paul had decided to test himself on the first climb of the stage, but with the effort, pain appeared in several locations and the various wounds on his hands and elbows made handling his bike too difficult,” medical director Jacky Maillot said.

“The instruction was above all not to take any risks.”

Maillot added that Seixas had crashed at around 70 kilometres per hour, resulting in a significant expenditure of energy. However, he expects the Frenchman to require only a few days of rest before resuming his preparation for the Tour de France.

The update echoes the comments of teammate Aurélien Paret-Peintre, who had already stressed after the stage that there was no reason to take any risks with Seixas.

“His main objectives are still three weeks to a month away, so there was no point taking any risks,” Paret-Peintre told CyclingPro.net after the stage. “He needs to rest and allow the wounds to heal as quickly as possible.”

“He was very motivated last night, but this morning things were obviously different,” he added. “It is normal not to feel good after a crash like that, and there is no point in pushing through it.”