Paul Seixas: Voeckler answers criticism after Worlds

Thomas Voeckler has stood by France’s tactical approach at the World Championships while acknowledging that Paul Seixas was not supported for long enough in the decisive stages. The French selector also rejected the idea that the young rider’s 15th-place finish should overshadow his season.

France deliberately made the race harder through Bruno Armirail’s work because that suited the team’s plans. Voeckler said the strategy itself was justified, but conceded that several French riders capable of helping Seixas were not at full strength and could have stayed with him longer. Two punchers still finished on the podium.

The result was Seixas’s first defeat of the season by his own description, following an earlier setback at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Voeckler urged perspective, stressing that cycling cannot be controlled like an exact formula and that only one rider can win a race.

Seixas’s wider record remains a central part of the French selector’s defence. He finished fourth on his first Tour and took third in the time trial at these championships, behind two riders Voeckler regards as the world’s leading specialists for the past eight years. The Worlds road race therefore exposed weaknesses in France’s support for Seixas, but did not erase his results against the sport’s strongest riders.