Seixas happy with mature third place: 'We let Vingegaard ride, he had the most to lose'

Behind winner Tadej Pogacar and runner-up Remco Evenepoel, it was Paul Seixas who rounded out the podium of Stage 10 of the Tour de France. The top French talent from Decathlon was very pleased with the result. Afterward, Seixas spoke to IDL Pro Cycling and others as he warmed down, recounting his experience on that “extremely dangerous” descent.

Richard Carapaz made a move, UAE reeled him back in, but in the final stretch we also saw Decathlon racing boldly at the front. In the end, it would still be the world champion’s day, but Seixas still managed a solid third-place finish. He gained four seconds on Juan Ayuso, ten on Jonas Vingegaard, and nearly a minute on Isaac Del Toro.

"It was a good day," he said afterward, with a pretty big smile on his face. “Not all third-place finishes in the Tour de France feel the same. Today’s feels really good, because it was a really tough day. To come away with that third-place finish is awesome.”

Seixas said that Tuesday’s stage was tougher than Stage 4 to Les Anges and different from the Tourmalet stage on Day 6. “That stage was really one for climbers; today’s stage was one for the strong riders. Of course, there were climbers too, but the climbs were shorter. It was a bit more chaotic as well. So to manage to stay up front here is really great.”

So, after the UAE team had done the hard work, Nicolas Prodhomme suddenly took the lead in the final stretch. “That was more about positioning. With Nico and Matthew (Riccitello, ed.), who did a great job of keeping me in position throughout the climb. We could see that the descent was extremely dangerous.”

He added: “I think the asphalt was melting. Because of that, I completely lost my landmarks on that descent.” In the first turn, Nico immediately went straight. Then I thought: What’s he doing? Then I felt myself slipping too, even before I turned the wheel. That’s when I thought: Whoa, there’s a problem here.'

And so the top talent decided to take the descent slowly. That, too, wasn’t without danger. “I felt my front wheel slip out again in that turn, without really understanding why. So I really think the asphalt had melted, because the descent was like an ice rink. Luckily, we were up front, because it would have been a real shame to crash there.”

After that tricky descent came the Col du Pertus, where Pogacar finally made his move. “The pace picked up right away there. I felt like we were going too fast, so I decided to pace myself. After that, the peloton split up, and we ended up in a small group of favorites. After Pogacar’s surge, it was full throttle all the way up.”

With Vingegaard, Lipowitz, Evenepoel, and Ayuso among others, Seixas rode toward the final climb. “We tried to work together, but that was very difficult because a lot of riders hadn’t thought about it before the climb. They went full throttle right from the base, so it was chaotic in the group.”

So what was the easiest solution? “We let Jonas ride, because he was definitely the second-strongest. But also because he had the most to lose. He got us to the finish, and then we battled it out to the line,” the young Frenchman acknowledged the sometimes harsh reality of cycling.

After 10 days of the Tour, Seixas is now second in the race for the white jersey, 13 seconds behind Ayuso. However, that wasn’t on his mind at all. “I think the Tour is still a long way from over. Everyone was going full throttle today, so I wasn’t thinking about the white jersey. My main focus was on getting to the finish line as fast as possible. That was the most important thing for me today.”