The support team for Paul Seixas's Tour de France debut still remains under wraps one week out, but Decathlon CMA CGM have confirmed the young French talent is over his recent crash and building form at altitude in Les Arcs in the French Alps.
One rider that will not be at the Grand Départ in Barcelona is climber Gregor Mühlberger, who announced the news on social media. After helping Felix Gall finish second at the Giro d’Italia, while finishing 15th himself, the 32-year-old rider focused entirely on preparation for the Tour, skipping the Tour de Suisse and the Austrian Road Championships to train at altitude with the team. But cycling can sometimes be cruel.
“I put everything into the preparation at the team altitude camp in France. Full focus, full discipline, no shortcuts and everything was going to plan,” Mühlberger wrote on Instagram.
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“Which makes this even harder to accept: sometimes sport gives you no warning and no chance to show what you prepared for. I won’t be on the start line in Barcelona, only watching and cheering for my teammates from home. It’s devastating, but that’s sport.”
The decision leaves the door open for another rider. One option would be to bring in sprinter Olav Kooij to hedge their bets to get a stage win, especially since Seixas will be coming in banged up.
Kooij, who joined the French team this year, has claimed three successive wins in the past weeks, after he had to postpone his season start due to a lingering virus.
His most recent victory at the Baloise Belgium Tour seven days ago saw him outsprint Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), in a hectic finale where he had to surf wheels. Afterwards, the Dutch rider stated that he was looking forward to fighting duels with fast men at the Tour.
Reported to be listed in the preliminary start list, Kooij will not be racing the road race at the Dutch Road Championships on Sunday.
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