'Not the end of the world' - Seixas bullish despite more lost time at Dauphiné

Paul Seixas has ground to make up if he is to win the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, formerly known as the Critérium du Dauphiné, but he has downplayed his losses in the stage 3 team time trial in Perreux.

The 19-year-old led his Decathlon CMA CGM team to sixth place on the day, 45 seconds behind winners Visma | Lease a Bike, and he now lies in 12th place overall, exactly a minute down on overall leader Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost).

Afterwards, Seixas would point to the absence of Matthew Riccitello, who abandoned on the opening day, and the unexpected struggles of Stefan Bissegger, though Visma lost a sub-par Wout van Aert early in their effort and then had Ben Tulett swing off due to a puncture.

“There’s obviously a bit of disappointment,” Seixas said, according to L’Équipe. “We’ve fallen short of our expectations, but you have to consider the circumstances: we lost Stefan quite early on and, unfortunately, that really hurt the team, and we didn’t have Matthew at the start, so we were down to five riders quite quickly. And five against seven is a tough ask.”

Seixas insisted, however, that his team had performed as well as they could in the circumstances before he powered on alone on the climb to the finish. He addressed his teammates aboard the Decathlon bus after they had completed their effort.

“I told them that a day like this could happen,” Seixas said. “But it’s not serious, we’ll get over it. It’s not as if we’ve lost three minutes. You have to learn to cope with days like this, pick yourself up, keep your chin up, and move on to the days ahead with confidence.”

Seixas is at the Dauphiné to prepare for what is the most eagerly anticipated Tour de France debut since Bernard Hinault in 1978. As a neo-pro twelve months ago, Seixas highlighted his astonishing potential by placing eighth overall at the race. 

This year, after victories at Itzulia Basque Country and Flèche Wallonne, and after going head-to-head with Tadej Pogacar at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, he is the favourite for overall victory at the rebranded Dauphiné.

There are still five stages to come, including three demanding summit finishes in the final three days, and Seixas struck an upbeat note about his prospects. He is a minute down on Baudin but rather closer to his fellow GC favourites. 

Seixas is only 13 seconds down on Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) and he is 16 seconds clear of Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), though he trails the Netcompany-Ineos duo of Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley by 48 seconds and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma) by 45 seconds.

“No, it’s not the end of the world, given that we’re not a minute behind Del Toro or Ayuso, we’re not too far off them,” Seixas said.

“Baudin is doing well, but it’s not a huge gap compared to him... Jorgenson, Kévin and Onley have taken quite a bit of time, so that’s not ideal, but it’s not definitive.”