Seixas domestique explains Pogačar's Tour de France 'death stare' and responds to 'Pantani' nickname

Paul Seixas made a tremendous impression in the Tour de France with a fourth-place finish in the overall standings. But his lead-out man, Nicolas Prodhomme, was also incredibly strong. The Frenchman from Decathlon CMA CGM was even given a nickname by UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Tadej Pogacar, though the latter also gave him a cold stare. Prodhomme responded to that.

Prodhomme didn’t follow a standard path to the top: he signed his first professional contract when he was 24. “I completed two degrees in electrical engineering, and when I joined an elite team, I was still working about 35 hours a week,” he tells VéloFuté. “Because of that, I wasn’t performing to my full potential. Then I joined a development program and gradually discovered my strengths.”

His strength really shines in the mountains. In 2025, Prodhomme made a giant leap forward: he started the year strong with his first professional victory, as Paul Seixas let him take the win in the final stage of the Tour of the Alps. But he added five (!) more victories that year, including a stage and overall victory in the Route d'Occitanie and a stage win in the Giro d'Italia.

In the Tour, the now 29-year-old Frenchman showed off his best climbing form. “I knew my form still needed to improve after the first week, but when I was the sixth or seventh rider in the remaining peloton and could still work for Paul, that’s when I truly realized what level I had reached. That was probably the most impressive part. I was already very happy that I could pick up the pace for him and that I was able to keep that up so late in the stages.”

Prodhomme gave his all for Seixas, but if he’d been allowed to go for his own chance, he might have been able to achieve even more. He knows that himself. “With the legs I had, I can imagine that a top-10 finish might have been possible in a different situation, but that would have meant I’d have had to conserve energy and thus wouldn’t have been able to provide as much support to my team leaders,” he explains.

Moreover, competing for a general classification title isn’t interesting to him. He’d rather focus on stage wins. “If I had the choice, I’d rather win a stage in the Tour than finish fifth in the general classification. If I had to set a real career goal, it would be to complete the trilogy in all three Grand Tours. I won a stage in the Giro last year; now I’m aiming for the Tour and the Vuelta.”

Prodhomme made his presence felt several times with a fierce surge at the front of the peloton. He really came into the spotlight that way, especially in the penultimate stage. The French climber accelerated once again, but at that moment, yellow jersey wearer Pogacar was leading the way ahead of teammate Isaac Del Toro. The Slovenian shot a fierce glance at Prodhomme, who then dropped back.

Now he explains exactly what happened. “I had to pick up the pace, but not at that exact moment. The earbuds weren’t working quite right, so I accelerated very hard for a short period, even though the planned move wasn’t supposed to happen until a few kilometers later. I think he was just wondering why I did that. At that moment, I didn’t even notice his gaze: I was focused on the radio and my timekeeper.”

He can laugh about it now. His acceleration earned him the nickname “Pantani”: always right up there on the early slopes of a final climb. “My teammates tease me about it quite a bit. To be honest, I don’t really see myself in Pantani, and I’d prefer it if he called me by my name. But anyway, when I read the explanation behind the nickname, it’s actually a nice compliment. So I take it in stride and see it in a positive light.”