'I'm not proud of myself' - Seixas shoulders blame for Dauphiné crash

The Frenchman was a faller a little over 30km into Saturday’s penultimate stage, and he was some four minutes down on the peloton before he launched into a dramatic pursuit in the company of his Decathlon CMA CGM teammates.

Seixas latched back on to the yellow jersey group ahead of the penultimate ascent of the Col de Richemond, but the final climb of the Grand Colombier would prove to be an exercise in damage limitation.

The 19-year-old lost contact with his principal GC rivals shortly after the climb began, and he would concede 1:21 to the day’s winner Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) by the summit. Seixas is sixth overall, 1:54 off yellow jersey Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull) and more than a minute behind Del Toro with one day remaining.

Speaking in the mixed zone after being awarded the prize for the day’s most combative rider, Seixas admitted that he had only himself to blame for the crash.

“I just made a silly mistake, it’s entirely my fault, and I apologise to the lads around me who I could have caused to crash as well,” Seixas said. “I took a corner badly. I tried to take the outside line, I thought the lads weren’t coming round fast enough, but in fact I went into the bend far too fast. 

“I managed to recover, but I ended up on a verge full of gravel. My wheel was almost in the ditch and eventually it slipped. I think we were doing 70 kph, and I went flying. I slid along as if I was on a slide, and I skidded on the road for 20 or 30 metres. 

“I slid, but on a dry road, it doesn’t feel good, so I’m really battered. What saved me today was probably the gloves, because when you fall on your hands, they take a real beating.”

Despite the protection afforded by the gloves, Seixas confessed to trouble gripping the handlebars for the remainder of the stage, but he downplayed the other injuries sustained in the crash.

“I’ve got a few grazes, but nothing serious, so that’s the main thing,” he said. “Of course, I was in pain throughout the stage, but the hardest part was really my hands. It was really hard to grip the handlebars, and I couldn’t brake as late as the others on the descents.

“But luckily, I didn’t tense up, and that’s it. The lads really lifted me today because of the work they’ve put in. I couldn’t let them down, I couldn’t just think of myself. Today I didn’t do it for myself, I did it for the whole team, I did it for all the people who support me and, of course, partly for myself.”

Seixas paid particular tribute to his Decathlon teammates, who dropped back in instalments to help pace him back up to the yellow jersey group.

“They could have left me in the lurch, but they didn’t,” Seixas said. “I wouldn’t have held it against them because I messed up. I set off again with four minutes to go. It was practically over at that point. I thought to myself, ‘The race is over, I can go home and get back to work [for the Tour de France].’”

Seixas tried to hang tough on the Grand Colombier, and while was unable to follow Del Toro, Juan Ayuso and Matteo Jorgenson on the lower slopes of the ascent, he limited his losses as best he could with an eye to staying in the hunt ahead of Sunday’s arduous final stage.

“When you see these lads sacrificing themselves for you, devoting their whole race to you even though they know you might blow up on the final climb, well, obviously that gives you extra motivation,” Seixas said. 

“In the end, even though I was à bloc, I kept fighting until there was nothing left in my legs because, honestly, that’s all these guys deserve – a guy who fights right to the end.”

Yet Seixas dismissed the idea that he could be proud of his own performance. 

“I’m obviously really hard on myself and I’m not proud of myself,” he said. “I’m proud of the team, they did a massive job and that’s that. But I lost 1:15 today, so obviously I’m not proud of myself.”

Before leaving the mixed zone, Seixas expressed confidence that he would be on the start line on Sunday despite his injuries.

“Yeah, I think I’ll be back out there tomorrow,” he said. “We’ll see tonight, but in any case, I’m going to fight to the end for the team.”