Video - Paul Seixas crashes at 'Dauphiné', 65km chase while injured

Paul Seixas is attended to on the roadside after his crash, with his team mates waiting for him and starting their chase 3:30 down

Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) has suffered a crash at the start of stage 7 at Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (2.UWT) today, Saturday, on the queen stage to Grand Colombier.

Though he got back on his bike, and team mates Stefan Bissegger and Daan Hoole waited for him, they were forced to start their pursuit of the main field some 3:30 down as it took Seixas a while to get going again.

He suffered cuts to both knees while his white jersey - the young rider classification leader's jersey - and his shorts were badly ripped on the right side.

By the 80km to go marker, Seixas and his team mates had actually lost time and were four minutes down, though Bissegger and Hoole, with so much horsepower, were two ideal team mates to have.

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The team appeared to be keeping some of the other riders in reserve in the bunch, to drop back and help Seixas later in the stage and or to keep them in place in the event the French teenager got back on quickly.

However, the chase became a very protracted one, with Seixas eventually leaving behind Bissegger and Hoole.

Aurélien Paret-Peintre then dropped back for him, when the gap was down to two minutes on the Lacets du Grand Colombier cat 1 climb, crested with just over 50km to go.

Nicolas Prodhomme then later dropped back, when the gap was just over one minute and he had reached the large convoy of vehicles behind the bunch.

Prodhomme and Paret-Peintre put in a very strong ride towing their leader and as Paret-Peintre swung over and was done, as the race neared the base of the penultimate climb, Col de Richemond, Léo Bisiaux dropped backed to helped Seixas.

They eventually got back to the group with just 36km remaining.

Even before the Seixas incident, three riders fell in the neutralised zone - Dani Martinez (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Alex Diaz (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Gal Glivar (Alpecin-Premier Tech), with Glivar forced out of the race.

The organisers also decided to neutralise the descent of the third climb of the day, for safety reasons.

"The descent following the Côte de Saint-Maurice-de-Rotherens could be made hazardous by loose gravel on the road," the organisers said in a statement.

"Race officials have decided that the riders will pass through this section in convoy and at low speed."

More to come.

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