Nicolas Prodhomme on gifted stage win from Paul Seixas: "He will win a lot more. For me it is different"

The final stage of Tour of the Alpes witnessed a big show from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale duo Paul Seixas and Nicolas Prodhomme. One by one, they were able to ride away from their breakaway companions and at the end Prodhomme was allowed to celebrate his first professional victory as the French duo crossed the line together.

Prodhomme and Seixas joined the daily breakaway of stage 5. Early on in became clear that the stage will be indeed won by the men at the front and the final decision was to be made on very steep Stronach climb (3 km at 12.3%). Seixas was to first start the battle and it seemed like no rider would have a response to his acceleration. Only his teammate Prodhomme was able to catch up and, to an outsider eye, may have been even a bit stronger.

The finish line didn't await at the top, however the French duo could already start to celebrate on the descent since third Emil Herzog was far behind. Ultimately the Decathlon AG2R riders agreed that Prodhomme would be allowed to add the victory in Lienz to his palmares. "This is my first professional victory, I am very happy," he said afterwards.

"I worked hard for the team this week. We wanted to go for the general classification and for a stage win. Today I was in the leading group with Paul. It is very special to experience this together with him. We share this victory. I can win here because he is such a great talent. He will win a lot more. For me it is different, this is my first victory."

For the French team it's a welcome patch up after the general classification didn't go perfectly. Felix Gall's fifth place is by no means bad, but ambitions may have been a few steps higher.