Seixas stays on course despite radio mix-up in fraught Tour finale

The 19-year-old suffered a puncture with 40km remaining, shortly before the first of three ascents of Montjuïc in the finale, and he narrowly avoided being struck by a car from the race organisation as he chased back to the peloton. 

At the foot of the final ascent up Montjuïc, meanwhile, there was a moment of disarray in the Decathlon CMA CGM camp when Tiesj Benoot set a searing pace at the front while Seixas sat much further back in the select front group.

Speaking to reporters after the finish, Seixas explained that Benoot’s pace-making stint had been the result of a malfunction in their radio communications with sports director Luke Rowe in the Decathlon team car. 

“There was a bit of a problem with the earpiece,” Seixas said, according to L’Équipe. “I was trying to tell them I wasn’t quite ready to attack, but the sports director didn’t understand. He thought I was at 100%, so he sent Tiesj on the attack, even though I hadn’t planned to attack. In the end, my legs felt better than I’d thought, but I’d rather save some energy for later.”

Tadej Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad took over further up the climb, with Adam Yates surging to the front, but Seixas managed to hold on as the Briton whittled down the front group still further. 

On the short descent, Isaac del Toro struck out alone ahead of the final haul to the finish line, with Pogačar resisting the temptation to overtake him in the closing metres. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Visma) came home in the same time as Del Toro, while Seixas finished three seconds down in ninth.

Seixas moves up to sixth overall, 42 seconds behind Vingegaard and 36 seconds down on Pogačar.

“To be honest, it’s a very good result given the circumstances,” Seixas said. “We had some problems with the earpieces, nothing major, but things got tricky after my puncture. I changed bikes twice and used up a lot of energy doing so. 

“I told myself I had to try to pace myself and save my strength for the finish. That’s what I did. The final climb wasn’t as steep as I’d thought, so I saved a bit of energy, but I got a bit caught out with my positioning at the start of the descent. There was a breakaway at the foot of the final climb, and I couldn’t close the gap. But three seconds isn’t much, and it’s a good start to the Tour.”

Seixas showed considerable calm during a fraught finale, most notably when he was almost struck by a car from the race organisation that deviated into his path. 

“This isn't the first time this has happened to me,” Seixas said. “I didn't panic too much, but I almost got hit by a car whose driver didn't check his rearview mirror. 

“It was very dangerous. When the road is that narrow, cars shouldn’t pull over to the left, but the driver saw us, so everything turned out okay. We know things don’t always go the way we want them to, but the most important thing is to keep a cool head.”