Paul Seixas crashes at Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - Decathlon CMA CGM star over four minutes behind peloton as race rages on

Paul Seixas has suffered a crash in the early moments of stage 7 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and faces a huge fightback to make his way to the peloton, with the gap standing at over four minutes.

The Decathlon CMA CGM rider fell on a descent with around 96 kilometers remaining, taking some time to get back on his bike as teammates dropped. Images showed Seixas in bushes and shrubs being attended to by officials with his helmet off.

As the race continued, the gap grew to over three minutes with rouleurs Daan Hoole and Stefan Bisseger joining Seixas' group behind in chase. With 82 kilometers to go, Seixas sat at 4:00 from the peloton as the breakaway battle continues.

No details have yet emerged about how the 19-year-old crashed or if he has suffered any injuries.

With Seixas' chase back through a long flat section before the next climb, the 19-year-old was unable to close the gap significantly. Although making small inroads, with 72 kilometers to go, the gap from peloton to his group stood at 3:38.

Before stage 7, Seixas had said he wanted to make the stage difficult to put new leader Luke Tuckwell under pressure and promised excitement in the final stages.

He said: "We're really going to have to make the race hard. When it's not, there are guys who try to get into breakaways. Now, we're going to have to control things. There are only six of us, with two big rouleurs. It's a bit complicated, but we're doing what we can. We're really going to get into something very interesting this weekend."

Tuckwell is not a completely new face in Seixas' life, but at last year's Tour de l'Avenir, their roles were turned with Seixas competing for victory while Tuckwell rode to a modest top-10 result after having won the Giro Next Gen earlier in 2025.

"Honestly, I don't know (Luke) Tuckwell that much," Seixas admitted about the new yellow jersey. "He's not among the leaders, but he had a good stage. That shows he's been solid. We'll see how it goes this weekend, but it's going to be much harder."