Seixas: Luke Rowe reveals why the young phenom runs in 'savings' mode.

Paul Seixas has been the center of discussion on the eve of this Tour de France , and the young, 19-year-old rising star continues to draw thunderous applause from the signature podium every morning. But in the race so far, we've seen him surprisingly calm. Almost unrecognizable compared to the explosive rider who has been making waves throughout the first half of the season.

We're still talking about the guy who attacked Tadej Pogačar at Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, who dominated the Itzulia Basque Country with a series of long-distance attacks, and who delivered one of the most memorable days of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes with a thrilling comeback after a high-speed crash. A bundle of energy and audacity, capable of driving the fans wild and causing problems for the best.

Yet, in this Tour de France, the Decathlon CMA CGM rider has taken a much more conservative approach. Sports director Luke Rowe explains why in a joint interview with Cyclingnews , The Guardian , and Het Laatste Nieuws .

"This guy has so much talent, charisma, passion, flair... he has all these qualities in abundance. We certainly don't want to stifle him, but if you're racing for the general classification, many days it's simply about getting from point A to point B, being patient and conservative. It may seem boring, but it's what it takes to race the general classification and get on the podium at the Tour de France."

Rowe then explained how the route itself dictates this logic: "You can lose the Tour in the Pyrenees, and there's no shortage of pitfalls in the Massif Central. There are so many slippery stages. But you win or lose the Tour in the Alps. Just look at how brutal the final days are, and stage 20 in particular, where everything can turn around: you have to be conservative."

The sports director is keen to point out, however, that Seixas certainly wasn't invisible. "It's not like he did anything. He was third at the top of the Tourmalet, with only Vingegaard and Pogačar ahead of him, and he pushed all the way to the top to close the gap, also detaching Remco and the others," Rowe emphasized. The French rider currently sits sixth in the general classification , 4 minutes and 35 seconds behind Pogačar.

A key element of this new caution also concerns descents. The terrible crash at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, admitted by Seixas himself as the result of an "idiotic" risk taken on the descent to gain positions in the peloton, was a wake-up call. Rowe reveals he had a clarifying conversation with the rider even before that race: "It might seem like I'm criticizing him, but he's a 19-year-old kid who was descending at crazy speeds in the first part of the year. Before the Dauphiné, I told him: we need to stop this for a bit. With 3,500 kilometers in the Tour, if you take every corner flat out, sooner or later one of them will catch you."

"Unfortunately, a corner really got him in the Dauphiné, and it was an important lesson. In this Tour de France, you see him being a little more cautious. He can descend like the best, he's an excellent bike handler, he has this weapon in his arsenal. But there's a right time to use it and a wrong time. With maturity and experience, you learn when to really take risks and when to relax."

The Tour now enters its decisive phase, with a double mountain event this weekend: a challenging stage through the Vosges on Saturday, and a promising uphill finish in the Alps on Sunday. With Pogačar already the undisputed leader of the race, the battle for the podium is wide open, and Seixas finds himself in uncharted waters: it's the first time he's competed in a race of this length.