Paul Seixas has abandoned Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on the final stage following his crash of yesterday
Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) has abandoned Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on the final stage today, Sunday, following his crash of yesterday.
The 19-year-old, sporting bandages today, was dropped from the bunch on the first climb, Col du Pré, before climbing off with about 30km completed, after the climb had been negotiated.
Having put in an epic chase on yesterday's stage 7, after he crashed early and found himself over four minutes down, he was dropped on the final climb, but only lost 1:21 to stage winner Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
That meant he started today's final stage, in the mountains to the summit of Plateau de Solaison-Brison, in 6th overall. He was 1:54 behind race leader Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).
The French teenager believed it may be possible to make that time up on the final stage. But clearly he had not recovered from his injuries, was dropped early in the stage and then climbed off.
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That is a major blow to him and his team as they were building towards a debut Tour de France ride, amid increasing hype in France. Seixas is regarded as the best general classification rider France has had for generations.
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Whether he will be on the start line of the Tour remains to be seen.
However, the fact he finished the stage yesterday and opted to start today, strongly suggests he has not suffered any broken bones. And if he can recover from what look like soft tissue injuries, he should make the Tour start line.
— Paul (@paulminguy) June 14, 2026
— Soy AntiTaurino (@EkBalam83) June 14, 2026
