Seixas reveals pre-Tour recon crash and brief illness that his team kept under wraps
Paul Seixas appeared to be bitterly disappointed after a foiled attempt to climb onto the Tour de France podium on Saturday's Queen Stage, but nevertheless, the 19-year-old will ride onto the Champs-Élysées secure in fourth overall at his very first Grand Tour. And with the three-week race now behind him, it has emerged that the young Frenchman did so despite facing even more adversity on top of his heavy Dauphiné crash.
L'Équipe has reported that Seixas crashed during a reconnaissance ride in Barcelona on 1st July, three days before the opening TTT, explaining the presence of fresh bandages at the Grand Départ. Then a few days later, Seixas struggled through a head cold for a few days in the opening week.
On both matters, it was apparently Seixas's own request that led the team to keep things tightly under wraps.
