{"id":808121,"date":"2026-07-18T11:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/808121\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T11:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:39:10","slug":"it-might-sound-like-im-bashing-him-a-bit-here-but-hes-a-19-year-old-kid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/808121\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt might sound like I\u2019m bashing him a bit here, but he\u2019s a 19-year-old kid”"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\u201cYou know, this guy has so much panache, charisma, passion, flamboyancy\u2026 all these words that he has so much of,” Rowe told CyclingNews. <\/a><\/p>\n

“So it’s not that you want to squash that, but also if you’re racing GC, a lot of days it’s just about getting from A to B, being patient and conservative, which some may view as boring, but that’s what it takes to ride the GC and that’s what it takes to be on the podium in the Tour de France.”<\/p>\n

Seixas reaches Alps in general classification fight<\/p>\n

Seixas and Decathlon are on the cusp of reaching the Alps, the Tour’s usual decisive period, as they sit in sixth place in general classification. He notes that real differences can be made and the race can be turned on its head in just one stage.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cA lot of it is the make-up of the route of the Tour. You can lose the Tour in the Pyrenees, and in the Massif Central things can also go wrong. There are a lot of banana skin stages there, but you win or lose the Tour in the Alps.<\/p>\n

“If you look at how brutal the last few days are, and you look at stage 20 where everything can get turned on its head, you do have to be quite conservative.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so, Seixas will have his time to shine. Responding to the idea that the French teenager hasn’t been active in the race, Rowe noted that he was third over the legendary Col du Tourmalet in the first real open fight between the GC leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like he’s done nothing. He was third over the top of the Tourmalet, there was only Vingegaard and Poga\u010dar in front of him and he pushed all the way to the top to limit the gap and he also gapped Remco and the others,” Rowe said.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Seixas on stage 12<\/p>\n

Decathlon and Seixas taking realistic approach<\/p>\n

“So it\u2019s not that we’re doing nothing, but you just have to be realistic in the way you race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Realism is rooted in Decathlon’s approach, and Rowe uses descending as an example of that. During early season long range attacks and classics performances, Seixas notably attacked descents aggressively and it’s something Rowe took him aside to warn not to do across a 21-stage Tour de France.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might sound like I\u2019m bashing him a bit here, but he\u2019s a 19-year-old kid and he\u2019s descending very fast the first half of the year, and I spoke to him pre-Dauphin\u00e9 and I said \u2018we\u2019ve just got to kind of tone that down a bit,” Rowe said.<\/p>\n

“With 3,500 kilometres in the Tour, if you take every corner full gas, one of them is going to catch you out.”<\/p>\n

He did crash during a bunch descent at the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes in June, and Rowe sees the caution in Seixas. Noting his bike handling skills, he maintains there is a time where that skill can be useful too.<\/p>\n

Seixas’ descending can be useful tool at the right time<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, you know, one did catch him out in the Dauphin\u00e9 [Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes] and it was a learning curve. You see at this Tour de France he is a little bit more cautious. He can descend with the best.<\/p>\n

“He’s a fantastic bike handler, he’s got this tool, this weapon in his arsenal, but there’s a time to use it and there’s a time not to use it. With maturity, with age, I think you realise when to really send it and when to relax.\u201d<\/p>\n

Summarising his assessment of Seixas’ showing thus far, Rowe notes the approach is rooted in patience. If Pogacar attacks, he doesn’t want to see the teenager get burnt in his wake – even if they plan on matching the Slovenian in the near future.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to race smart. If you say to Paul, \u2018when Poga\u010dar goes, you follow\u2019, I don\u2019t think right here, right now he can follow Poga\u010dar. Then he explodes and you lose more time.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s ABC, it\u2019s not rocket science but I don\u2019t want to set him up to fail. I don’t want to put too much pressure on his shoulders.”<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cAt the end of the day, he makes the decisions on the road. We try and guide him before the race and guide him on the radio. He also has to feel this and maybe there will be a day in this Tour, or in the years to come, where he can follow Poga\u010dar. But right now, you fly too close to the sun, you get burned.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cYou know, this guy has so much panache, charisma, passion, flamboyancy\u2026 all these words that he has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,176987,165723,176605,85,2845],"class_list":["post-808121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-decathlon-cma-cgm-team","tag-luke-rowe","tag-paul-seixas","tag-sports","tag-tour-de-france"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808121","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=808121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}