{"id":615405,"date":"2026-04-18T16:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615405\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T16:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:39:11","slug":"i-dont-see-him-trying-to-win-or-do-a-top-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615405\/","title":{"rendered":"I don\u2019t see him trying to win or do a top three"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

“But the body doesn\u2019t always respond as you want: he\u2019s had crashes, which is bad luck, and when you crash you try to force it and end up battering your body before you\u2019ve recovered, which can lead to infections. You have to strike a fair balance. It could have been better without those issues, sure, but there\u2019s a lot of year left.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the Tour de France in mind, Valverde does not rule out big ambitions, though he avoids setting a timeline for the Spaniard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see it being feasible, of course. I don\u2019t know if it will be this year, but I do see him on the podium at some point. It\u2019s hard, of course, but if he sets his mind to it he has to go for it. Then it will come off or not, but the key is to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seixas breaks through with force<\/p>\n

One of the early-season spotlights falls on the young Frenchman, whose progression has not gone unnoticed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncredible. A 19-year-old, riding the way he is\u2026 at Strade Bianche, taking the fight to Pogacar. It\u2019s impressive how he wins, how he kicks, attacking from distance, brave. He\u2019s a superb talent we must follow closely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the excitement around his performances, Valverde argues for a gradual build-up if he does line up at the Tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can go, but you have to know what you\u2019re going for. I don\u2019t see him trying to win or do a top three. He\u2019s very young. He\u2019s started the season very well and needs to grow step by step. We mustn\u2019t burn him out. He can go to learn, to read the race, and later on, if all goes well, then go all-in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Seixas dominated the 2026 Itzulia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “But the body doesn\u2019t always respond as you want: he\u2019s had crashes, which is bad luck, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[192406,64,63,784,171886,176605,85,2845],"class_list":{"0":"post-615405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-alejandro-valverde","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-juan-ayuso","13":"tag-paul-seixas","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-tour-de-france"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}