{"id":855104,"date":"2026-08-14T15:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/855104\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T15:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:36:10","slug":"seixas-domestique-explains-pogacars-death-stare-at-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/855104\/","title":{"rendered":"Seixas domestique explains Pogacar’s ‘death stare’ at Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Seixas<\/a> 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<\/a> was even given a nickname by UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Tadej Pogacar<\/a>, though the latter also gave him a cold stare. Prodhomme responded to that.Prodhomme didn\u2019t follow a standard path to the top: he signed his first professional contract when he was 24. \u201cI completed two degrees in electrical engineering, and when I joined an elite team, I was still working about 35 hours a week,\u201d he tells V\u00e9loFut\u00e9<\/a>. \u201cBecause of that, I wasn\u2019t performing to my full potential. Then I joined a development program and gradually discovered my strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In the Tour, the now 29-year-old Frenchman showed off his best climbing form. \u201cI 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"nicolas-prodhomme\"\/Prodhomme Aims for stage victory at the Vuelta<\/p>\n

Prodhomme gave his all for Seixas, but if he\u2019d been allowed to go for his own chance, he might have been able to achieve even more. He knows that himself. \u201cWith 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\u2019d have had to conserve energy and thus wouldn\u2019t have been able to provide as much support to my team leaders,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Moreover, competing for a general classification title isn\u2019t interesting to him. He\u2019d rather focus on stage wins. \u201cIf I had the choice, I\u2019d 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\u2019m aiming for the Tour and the Vuelta.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more below the video!<\/p>\n

Prodhomme on Poga\u010dar’s ‘death stare’<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Now he explains exactly what happened. \u201cI had to pick up the pace, but not at that exact moment. The earbuds weren\u2019t working quite right, so I accelerated very hard for a short period, even though the planned move wasn\u2019t supposed to happen until a few kilometers later. I think he was just wondering why I did that. At that moment, I didn\u2019t even notice his gaze: I was focused on the radio and my timekeeper.\u201d<\/p>\n

He can laugh about it now. His acceleration earned him the nickname \u201cPantani\u201d: always right up there on the early slopes of a final climb. \u201cMy teammates tease me about it quite a bit. To be honest, I don\u2019t really see myself in Pantani, and I\u2019d prefer it if he called me by my name. But anyway, when I read the explanation behind the nickname, it\u2019s actually a nice compliment. So I take it in stride and see it in a positive light.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Seixas made a tremendous impression in the Tour de France with a fourth-place finish in the overall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,221838,425252,176605,85,6494,346968,39562],"class_list":["post-855104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-decathlon-cma-cgm","tag-nicholas-prodhomme","tag-paul-seixas","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tour-de-france-2026","tag-vuelta-a-espana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855104","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=855104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}