Super talent Seixas crashed at worst moment but calls it a "dream come true"; Johannessen also celebrates 5th place

The 18-year-old Seixas surprised everyone with his incredible climbing legs and was in 6th place before the final day. But the eighth stage was an extremely tough test. "I suffered more today than on the other days, my legs were like sh*t," he sighed to Cycling Pro. “My heart rate stayed low, and I couldn't push like I could before. I felt a bit better on the last climb, but unfortunately, I crashed."

On the final climb, he was on the ground just as Johannessen broke away. "Everyone went to the right while I wanted to ride at my own pace. The rider in front of me steered to the right and hit my wheel. I couldn't do anything about it; I didn't have time to react." The super talent had to continue with a broken handlebar and, thanks in part to his teammates, crossed the finish line in 13th place, 2.05 minutes behind winner Lenny Martinez.

This moved him down two places in the GC. "It could have been better, but I'm also very happy. I didn't think I could make the top 10 on the penultimate climb anymore; my legs were so bad. So to finish eighth is fantastic.“ The Dauphiné was also an incredibly important learning experience. "Cycling is even harder than I thought,“ Seixas laughs. ”I've learned a lot and suffered a lot this week. I'm very happy that I finished, and finishing eighth is a dream come true."

Johannessen had already finished a surprising fourth on Saturday and was in contention for a top-five finish. "We wanted to have the fifth place in the GC. But Enric Mas was in the breakaway, and they were going fast," the Norwegian told CyclingUpToDate. The Spaniard from Movistar was 10th going into the final day, just under two minutes behind the Uno-X Mobility leader. That team took it upon themselves to chase, after which Johannessen finished the job himself on the final climb.

With another excellent day (he finished eighth), the 25-year-old climber secured a fantastic result. "This is the biggest GC result in a WorldTour stage race for the team, so we can be proud of that. The race went much better than we expected. While we didn't come here with GC ambitions, day by day, I felt better and better, so to finish it off like this was great."

Johannessen won the 2021 Tour de l'Avenir, beating Carlos Rodríguez. The Spaniard has already won a stage in the Tour de France and finished fifth in the GC, but the Norwegian has yet to fulfill his promise. With his performance in the Dauphiné, it might not be a bad idea to focus all his attention on the Tour classification now. “I think we all got an excellent training session before the big race in 3 weeks," Johannessen winked.