"We were going 70 km/h, I went flying" - Paul Seixas takes the blame for near-disaster crash at Auvergne

Paul Seixas has had a tremendously eventful day today at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The Frenchman crashed early in the day at high speed and with consequences, that threatened not only his race but his Tour de France debut. He detailed the crash, took the blame for it, and talked extensively about the biggest setback he has experienced so far this season.

With just under 100 kilometers to go, a season so far almost flawless briefly turned into a nightmare. "I simply made a stupid mistake. It's entirely my fault, and I apologize to the guys who were around me, who I held up, who I could have caused to fall too," Seixas said in a post-race interview.

Seixas crashed, at high speed and with high impact, in a race situation that didn't seem to be overly tense. He admitted it was his own fault, taking too many risks following the race being resumed (as it was neutralized in one of the day's descents):

"I misjudged a turn; I wanted to go wide, I thought the guy wasn't coming fast enough, and in fact, I came into the turn way too fast. I managed to recover, but then I ended up... there was a ditch filled with gravel. My wheel was almost in the ditch, and in the end, the wheel slipped".

The Frenchman explained in depth what happened to him exactly, and what led to his injuries. Seixas had blood in his knees, elbows, but most notably on his right side near the pelvis. "I think we were going 70 km/h, I went flying, I slid like I was on a slide, front end down. And on the road, I scraped myself for 20 or 30 meters, I think. And on dry road, that's not good. So, I'm really banged up," he admits.

"What saved me today was maybe the gloves, because the gloves are wrecked. Always wear gloves, because today's proof is that if you fall on your hands at 70 kilometers per hour, your hands take a beating. And well, my hands are pretty wrecked," he adds. This was visible as he often put his hands in the tops following the fall, but ultimately it did not hamper him too much.

"I couldn't get my hands on the handlebars. And well, I'm really struggling because it immediately tensed my back. And when you can't even put enough force on the handlebars, it's really difficult".

Seixas' race looked to be over in the minutes following the crash. In a blink of an eye, he lost 4 minutes to the peloton, but resumed the race. Daan Hoole and Stefan Bissegger joined him, and the decision was made to try and make a comeback. One by one, he would be joined by his teammates, who helped him return to the peloton after a chase of 60 kilometers.

"I wouldn't say there's any kind of pride at the finish. I'm mostly proud of my teammates. Today, I messed up... I messed up completely on that descent, I'm obviously kicking myself," he admits.

In the final climb, with Léo Bisiaux still with him, Seixas rode to seventh on the day, putting in time on race leader Luke Tuckwell, but losing out to Isaac del Toro, Matteo Jorgenson and Juan Ayuso. Nevertheless his result was one that impressed many, taking into consideration the state in which he crossed the finish line.

Pictures from the finish area tell more of the story, as he was aided by race staff to sit on the floor following his crash. Injured in the hands, with blood also in several parts of his body, he was clearly in distress. Nevertheless he still took on the media duties and podium celebrations on the day, bandaged up. Seixas ends the day in sixth position overall, just over a minute behind Matteo Jorgenson who is second behind Luke Tuckwell on GC.

"I'm not proud of myself, no, I'm not proud of myself. I'm proud of the team;" he added. "They did a tremendous job. I lost a place in the general classification today, so of course I'm not proud of myself, but the team can be proud of themselves because frankly, what they did was just incredible".

Whilst the feelings can be different the day after, the plan for the time being is that Seixas will not abandon the race, and will be in the mix on a brutal stage 8 that features three incredibly difficult climbs in a 120-kilometer route. "Yeah, I think I'll start again tomorrow. We'll see tonight, but in any case, I'm going to fight to the end for the team," he concluded.