A cause for concern or coincidence? Paul Seixas will not race France's national championships ahead of Tour de France
CyclingTuesday, 23 June 2026 at 12:30
The Tour de France is starting within less than two weeks and at the start will be almost all of the best stage-racers in the peloton. At times, they use the national championships as their final preparation step ahead of the Grand Boucle, but that will not be the case with Paul Seixas.
Seixas will not race anymore until Tour de France
The Frenchman has been confirmed by the French federation to not be starting out this weekend's road race in Les Vals du Dauphiné. With over 240 kilometers and a hilly nature, the Decathlon CMA CGM Team riders had chances of winning the title in France and take it to the Tour.
The French staple team will be using other weapons to try and capture the title, potentially prioritizing some of its classics specialists such as Paul Lapeira and Jordan Labrosse. A win could also lead to a potential selection for the Tour de France, increasing the pressure.
But Seixas will have no part in it. The 19-year crashed at the recent Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and whilst he did not suffer fractures in the high-speed fall, he suffered multiple bruises and lots of road rash which made it unviable for him to finish the race.
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Does Seixas already know his Tour de France team?
The Frenchman and the team already carry the concern that the crash might have affected his build towards the Tour de France, where consistency over the entire three weeks will be absolutely crucial for a successful Grand Tour debut.
Decathlon is yet to decide their lineup for the race, with Seixas' right-hand man at Auvergne Léo Bisiaux surprisingly to be left at home. Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Nicolas Prodhomme should be his main support men in the mountains; Tiesj Benoot will be a key experient figure to support in the hilly days; whilst Daan Hoole and Stefan Bissegger will be providing help on the flat days mainly.
Olav Kooij as it stands looks likely to be present at the race in order to put the team on the map in the sprint stages - which could also offset the predicted pressure on Seixas. After Felix Gall's magnificent Giro d'Italia, it looks likely that Matthew Riccitello's plans will move from the Vuelta where Gall will also be, towards the Tour instead to support Seixas.
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- But this thread started when someone was pointing at Tadej for not just walking off the Tour de Suisse to put his family first. And the media often commend Jonas for putting family first. Maybe no need for any outrage at all.Hills3323-06-2026
- It's better that he won't be riding in the French flag
Rafionain-Glas23-06-2026 - Look at the list of the last riders who won on Montjuïc - it is a great list. Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič and... Brady Gilmore?Rafionain-Glas23-06-2026
- Don't be surprised when JV finishes 3rd.zaz23-06-2026
- I have a 22 year old son that enjoys cycling and watching it with me. thankfully, he knows nothing of the Armstrong saga.mij23-06-2026
- you are entirely missing the point either because you are argumentative or dense. I do not know how they exactly treated it. nor did I ever claim to. but, if a wound is treated and cared for properly, the chance of this type of infection is basically nil. The fact that they had 2 riders get road rash - you can see the pics - and have infections that required surgery makes me question what the team did. That is all I'm saying, and it is more than a fair question, because it is statistically beyond unlikely this would ever happen. Like less than 0.5%. so the question - what is this team doing to treat these wounds - is based on the statistics around these types of infections. and the stats say it will not happen in 99.5 out of 100 chances. and last I checked this is an opinion board in which people like me can state an opinion, for you to question, which you have. and when challenged you answer questions with questions.mij23-06-2026
- No doubt Seixas is talented - I believe Maxtin may be either fantasizing out loud about a possible French champion, or feebly trying to get into rivals heads. Plus he compares to Jonas in the giro, where it sure looked like he was comfortable the entire time as he easily beat an admittedly far weaker field Let’s see where young Paul is in week three before we decide anything.Crashjames23-06-2026
- Perhaps if he was from the English-speaking world, and Lance Armstrong hadn't already existed/poisoned the whole thing - he already would be. As it stands, the Average Joe doesn't understand pro cycling, and only knows it as "that thing where people cheat" - so sadly he's never going to get the crossover exposure he's earned. I mean, he can dry his eyes on his millions of Euros and legions of devoted fans as it is but yeah, pro-cycling isn't a fundamental sport kids play/learn to understand at school, so at best it's being "the world's best guy at that thing they proved was all lies and bullshit". Unfortunately.antipodeanpedalfan23-06-2026
- Tadej's six minutes over his rival in the course of 5 days is even more impressive.
KerisVroom23-06-2026 - Lipo is delighted that Remco is there. Remco is the lightening rod that will attract the most scrutiny. Also there is a 50-70% chance Remco will fail due to bad day, sickness or crash while Lipo can make it into the podium or top 5. Remco will attack while Lipo tries to benefit behind. So all the criticism will fall on Remco while Lipo will receive all the plaudits. Media narrativeabstractengineer23-06-2026
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