{"id":554555,"date":"2026-07-22T19:54:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T19:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/554555\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T19:54:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T19:54:31","slug":"anti-doping-chiefs-reject-claims-of-paul-seixas-favouritism-as-tour-rivals-cry-foul-tour-de-france-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/554555\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-doping chiefs reject claims of Paul Seixas favouritism as Tour rivals cry foul | Tour de France 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anti-doping authorities at the Tour de France<\/a> have rejected accusations of preferential treatment towards Paul Seixas, the teenage French rider and home favourite who is placed fourth overall.<\/p>\n

Seixas and his Decathlon CMA CGM team were tested, with the rest of the peloton, on Monday evening as part of the biological passport testing programme, but the 19-year-old has not yet been subjected to the nocturnal test that both the race leader Tadej Pogacar and the now-withdrawn Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> underwent.<\/p>\n

The Slovenian Matej Mohoric, who rides for the Bahrain Victorious team and was among those visited at 5am, said: \u201cIt would be good to guarantee equal treatment for everyone. After all, we know that this French rider [Seixas], who is well placed in the general classification, didn\u2019t undergo that [night-time] test.\u201d<\/p>\n

The International Testing Agency denied suggestions of bias, saying: \u201cThe ITA is responsible for the strategy of the anti-doping programme for the Tour de France, not the AFLD [the French anti-doping agency]. We have our own sample collection personnel for the doping controls.<\/p>\n

\u201cAFLD might occasionally support the ITA with additional sample collection personnel, if needed, for instance during the testing mission on Monday evening but the decision who is tested when remains with the ITA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ITA said: \u201cOur decisions are based on facts, risk assessments, performances, scientific results and insights, intelligence and investigations, as well as data analysis. This approach enables us to act as precisely and impartially as possible, independently of any external influence, political interest or opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professional cycling\u2019s governing body, the UCI, has now fully endorsed the ITA\u2019s night-time testing regime, but insists: \u201cCarrying out such controls outside normal hours remains an exceptional measure, reserved for limited and justified circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mohoric said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI was tested at 5am myself. That\u2019s practically the middle of the night, given that we go to bed around midnight because the stages finish late and we have breakfast around 10am.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to prove they [the tests] are working and ensuring the sport remains clean and fair,\u201d Mohoric said of the ITA. \u201cWe are paying the price for cycling\u2019s past.\u201d<\/p>\n

The defending champion and race leader Tadej Pogacar is one of several riders who have had doping tests at night. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes\/Reuters<\/p>\n

On Wednesday afternoon, the UCI said that the ITA\u2019s activities demonstrate that \u201cthe fight against doping is an absolute priority\u201d, adding: \u201cThe UCI acknowledges that night-time testing can disrupt riders\u2019 rest and recovery [but] these controls serve an overriding interest: the fight against doping.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday a rare breakaway move succeeded as Jasper Philipsen led home a reduced main peloton in the 175-kilometre 17th stage from Chamb\u00e9ry to Voiron.<\/p>\n

In a fast and chaotic stage, in which multiple groups formed and reformed, the last man standing Jasper Stuyven was reeled in on the climb to La Commanderie, just 4km from the finish.<\/p>\n

That set up a sprint finish and a first win in this year\u2019s race for Philipsen, who was thwarted earlier in the Tour by Tim Merlier, who has now abandoned the race, and the Dutch sprinter Olav Kooij, teammate to Seixas.<\/p>\n

But as Philipsen, the winner of the points classification in 2023, celebrated an 11th career Tour stage win, Adam Yates, a key member of the race leader Pogacar\u2019s mountain support, was enduring a stomach bug at the back of the peloton.<\/p>\n

The British rider crossed the finish line third from last, looking pale and exhausted, having been sick for the past 48 hours. \u201cHe looked terrible,\u201d Pogacar said of his teammate during the time trial on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

With three mountain-top finishes now coming, first at Orci\u00e8res-Merlette and then the dreaded double stage finish at Alpe d\u2019Huez, on Friday and Saturday, Yates would be expected to play a key role in the champion\u2019s title defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday he looked much better, and was eating good,\u201d Pogacar said, \u201cbut when you have a bad day like yesterday, you pay a day later. I hope he didn\u2019t go too deep into the hole and he will be better tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anti-doping authorities at the Tour de France have rejected accusations of preferential treatment towards Paul Seixas, the teenage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-554555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}