Johan Bruyneel sees Paul Seixas's 'lack of experience' during chaotic Tour de France stage 2

Paul Seixas really got the hearts of French cycling fans racing on Sunday during Stage 2 of the Tour de France. The 19-year-old team leader for Decathlon CMA CGM fell behind the peloton in the final stretch after experiencing bike trouble. While he showed great strength to return to the front of the race, Lance Armstrong's former manager saw a weakness.

Seixas and Decathlon CMA CGM had set their sights on the second stage around Barcelona, but even before we had started the first of three climbs up Montjuïc, Seixas had fallen behind. While trying to catch up, he was nearly knocked off his bike.

The fact that Seixas had no radio contact with the car during the chase didn't help matters. Fortunately, he was spotted when he had to switch bikes because of a flat tire. “It took a lot of energy to get back, and from that point on, we started climbing right away.”

"It went well, but given the circumstances, it was tough," Seixas added to the French media while sitting on the rollers next to the bus. He finished eighth in the results, 3 seconds behind Isaac del Toro, Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel, and Jonas Vingegaard.

Johan Bruyneel was scathing about the way Decathlon handled Seixas' mechanical at a crucial part of the stage. However the former DS admits that part of the problem was down to Seixas himself. “It was a very unfortunate moment, right before they got into Barcelona", said Bruyneel on The Move Podcast. "I think you could see the lack of experience.”

“The way Seixas himself made those decisions shows you the lack of experience. Because at the Tour to France, you cannot make those mistakes. There is no room for error. It's so fast. I don't know if it was his teammate who encouraged him to take his bike?" wondered Bruyneel.

"Yesterday, they were sixth in the team time trial. So their car must have not been very far behind. So it's better to just take your own bike from the car. It was a moment of panic and you cannot make those mistakes. Not at those speeds."

However it wasn't all doom and gloom. Bruyneel was impressed by Seixas: "Again, the way he made it back to the front and was in the mix was still impressive. Impressive for such a young rider. That's how strong he is."

Seixas was perfectly fine with that 3-second time loss after a precarious stage. “The team did a great job. We found each other, despite not having earpieces, and in the end I got back into position. I tried to make up some time, and it worked out pretty well.”

"The climb wasn't as steep as expected, so I didn't use up that much energy," Seixas said nonchalantly. Could that also have been the reason for putting teammate Tiesj Benoot in the lead on the third and final ascent of Montjuïc? "That was a miscommunication. I didn’t really have the strength to attack.”

"My team leader didn't understand. He thought I was in top form, and maybe that's why he put Tiesj out front to do the work. But I didn't plan to attack; I preferred to leave that to others. I wanted to stay with the pack and see what would happen. In the end, my legs were stronger than I thought."

All’s well that ends well, then. Seixas might normally have preferred to finish in the top four, but because Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) opened up a gap after the descent, that wasn’t possible. Regarding the car that nearly hit him, Seixas added: “That was scary, but that’s just how it goes.”