Teenager Paul Seixas continues to pass every test thrown at him in his debut Tour de France. Finishing third on the brutally tough and dangerous stage 10 to Le Lioran, the Frenchman moved up to fifth in the GC standings.
The youngest starter of the race in 89 years, Seixas is aiming high for the podium on his maiden lap around his home country. He's still on track to challenge for the podium as the second week got underway on Tuesday, matching everyone but Tadej Pogačar on a tricky Bastille Day through the Massif Central.
Seixas has not been overly aggressive, and throughout the tenth stage, he showed maturity beyond his 19 years, not riding himself into implosion when Pogačar made his winning solo move 15.5km from the finish. He then bided his time in the finale to take third in the sprint and the four bonus seconds with it.
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"I imagine that not all third places on the Tour taste the same, but this one is definitely special," explained Seixas at the finish as reported by L'Equipe.
"The Tourmalet stage was really for the climbers. Today was a stage for strong riders. Shorter, more chaotic efforts. Managing to be present on both types of terrain is a great achievement.
"The Tour is still long; you have to know when to stop. Naturally, everyone was giving it their all. I wasn't thinking about whether I should take the white jersey or not. I just wanted to reach the finish line, try to gain as much time as possible, and get to the line as fast as I could."
Seixas may be 4:35 from the current benchmark he hopes to one day reach, race leader Pogačar, but he is a mere 13 seconds down on Juan Ayuso in fourth, 29 seconds behind Remco Evenepoel in third, and just 59 seconds away from second place, currently held by Jonas Vingegaard.
These are the names he was expected to rival at the Tour, but talk and hopes are one thing; actually performing and managing all the pressure that comes with being a French super talent is a whole different story. Seixas seems to have the measure of everything for now, even as he approaches the unknown of riding a race longer than 10 days.
Everything almost came unstuck for Seixas on stage 10, though, as he had a moment on the third from final descent off of the Puy Mary-Pas de Peyrol climb, which surely left him somewhat shaken up en route to the finish in Le Lioran as his equipment began to struggle.
"Nico [Prodhomme], Matthew [Riccitello], Tiesj [Benoot], and Aurélien [Paret-Peintre] positioned me perfectly all the way up the climb. The descent was extremely dangerous," said Seixas.
"The tarmac, in my opinion, was melting. I felt my rear wheel slip without even leaning into a turn. I completely lost my bearings. The descent was like an ice rink. Luckily, we were in front at that point. We didn't try to do anything reckless.
"Many riders didn't think about how to manage the climb. They went all out from the start. After that, we let Jonas [Vingegaard] ride because he had the most to lose. He took us to the finish."
Fittingly, the press room in Le Lioran was actually in an ice rink, or patinoire as Seixas would've said it in his native French, but Seixas will have been delighted to have passed the day in the main chase group and not somewhere down the road with wounds to be tended to.
Up to this point and after some serious tests from his GC rivals, Seixas seems more than up to the test. Just how much better can he get as the race heads for high ground in the Vosges and the French Alps, where the overall and the young Frenchman's debut finish will be decided?
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