Seixas makes Dauphiné intentions clear as Tour de France build up intensifies

The 19-year-old has been named in a strong seven man line up for the French stage race, where he will be joined by Léo Bisiaux, Stefan Bissegger, Daan Hoole, Aurélien Paret Peintre, Nicolas Prodhomme and Matthew Riccitello.

For Seixas, the race carries personal significance. It takes place on roads he knows well, in his home region, and is the last part of his build-up towards his first Tour de France.

“I am looking forward to this Tour Auvergne Rhône Alpes with great ambitions, after three weeks of altitude training,” Seixas said via his team. “This week will be important for me as I will be able to compare my sensations, especially in terms of recovery, with those of last year, when I finished 8th.”

Seixas added that the familiar terrain gives him another reason to aim high.

“On roads I know very well, those of my home region, I will be going for the win and further building on the benchmarks we have established since the beginning of the year with the whole team ahead of the Tour de France.”

Over the past month, Seixas and several of his teammates have been preparing in Sierra Nevada during an altitude camp. Training files shared on Strava showed that Seixas completed a major block of work there, covering roughly 1,500 kilometres and accumulating around 37,000 metres of climbing across just twelve days.

That was followed by reconnaissance on Tour de France roads. During a recent ride in the Pyrenees, Seixas set a Strava KOM on a 10.1 kilometre segment of the western approach of the Col du Tourmalet from Luz Saint Sauveur, climbing at 6.9 percent in 25:25.

The full ascent and race conditions will be very different, but the positive signs around his preparation have only added to the growing hope in France that Bernard Hinault may finally have a successor, more than four decades after his last Tour de France victory in 1985.

That will make the coming week particularly interesting. The Tour Auvergne Rhône Alpes should offer an early indication of how much pressure the French media will place on Seixas, although teammates have previously suggested he is difficult to unsettle and rarely appears overwhelmed by the attention.

At the race, which takes place from 7 to 14 June, Seixas is expected to face strong opposition from Isaac Del Toro and João Almeida of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Juan Ayuso of Lidl-Trek and Matteo Jorgenson of Visma | Lease a Bike.