'I didn't panic' - Paul Seixas downplays early loss at Dauphiné

Decathlon CMA CGM controlled the peloton for much of the day on behalf of Seixas, but they were caught out when a group featuring the Netcompany-Ineos duo of Oscar Onley and Kévin Vauquelin slipped away in the finale, picking up 12 seconds on Seixas and fellow GC favourites Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek).

“I tried to save as much energy as possible, I didn’t panic,” Seixas told Cyclingpro.net ahead of stage 2. “I knew the finish was tough, and 12 seconds doesn’t really change the overall standings. It’s great for Oscar and Kevin, but the mountain stages are going to be very tough.

“I didn’t get much help from the others because I think they were a bit worried about losing time in the sprint, which was slightly uphill. But voilà, I did what I could, and we only finished 12 seconds down, so it was a successful stage.”

In the overall standings, Seixas is in 17th place, 44 seconds down on leader Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) and 12 seconds behind Vauquelin, Only and Luke Plapp (Jayco-Alula).

Seixas lost his key climbing support Matthew Riccitello to illness during the stage, but he declared himself pleased with his own condition after a lengthy spell of altitude training at Sierra Nevada and some Tour de France reconnaissance in the Pyrenees. 

The 19-year-old’s last outing before Sunday came six weeks ago at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he finished a remarkable spring campaign by placing second behind Tadej Pogacar following a gripping duel in the finale. Shortly afterwards, Decathlon confirmed that Seixas would make his Tour de France debut this July, making him the youngest participant since the 1930s. 

“To be honest, I felt great,” Seixas said of his sensations on stage 1 of the Dauphiné. “I had a really relaxed day because I felt really good on the bike, I didn’t struggle at all. I felt great the whole time. I recovered really well last night, so it was a fairly quiet day for me.”

Stage 2 of the race, rebranded this year as the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, brings the peloton over 234km of rugged terrain towards Le Puy-en-Velay, which might spark frissons among Seixas and the GC contenders.

They will also be looking ahead, however, to Tuesday’s team time trial in Perreux, which will be a useful dress rehearsal for the opening stage of the Tour de France in Barcelona.

“We’re hoping for a quiet day today so we can save the team a bit,” Seixas said. “We’re obviously down a rider with Matthew, but we’re still very motivated. We’ve got a very solid team with riders who are really strong in time trials, so we’re hoping to achieve the best possible result.”