"Always wear gloves": the warning from Paul Seixas after his crash in Dauphiné

The crash suffered by Paul Seixas during the seventh stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2026 forced him to withdraw from the race the following day. But the consequences could have been much worse for the young Decathlon CMA CGM rider if he hadn't been wearing gloves.

Paul Seixas reignites the gloves debate: “Always wear them”

After the accident, the Frenchman recalled that gloves remain one of the most effective protections a cyclist can wear.

“I slid like a sled, on my chest,” Seixas explained in statements collected by Cyclingnews. “I was scraping against the road. I think I slid for 20 or 30 meters. On dry asphalt, that doesn't do you any favors.”

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The French rider particularly highlighted the damage suffered to his hands, one of the most exposed areas when a high-speed fall occurs.

“When you slide on your hands at 70 km/h, your hands pay a very high price,” he stated.

Paradoxically, Seixas was wearing gloves at the time of the accident. Traditional short gloves that ended up completely destroyed after the impact.

“What saved me today were probably the gloves, because the gloves were completely torn,” he explained.

“I was wearing gloves and even so, my hands were very damaged. Without gloves, I don't think I would have been able to get back on the bike.”

And he concluded his message with a direct recommendation that he repeated in several subsequent interviews: “Always wear gloves when you go out to ride.”

An increasingly uncommon garment in the peloton

Seixas's words contrast with an increasingly evident trend among both professionals and amateurs. Just a decade ago, it was rare to see a rider without gloves. Today, the opposite is true.

Images of figures like Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, or Remco Evenepoel show that many of the big names in current cycling regularly compete without them, even in demanding races like the classics.

The change has several explanations. On one hand, modern bicycles are more ergonomic and comfortable, and the need to use padding to reduce pressure on the hand nerves has decreased significantly. Additionally, the feel of bare hands has more precision, and that is one of the reasons that has been heard from Van der Poel himself.

There is also a component related to thermal comfort. The hands and wrists have numerous blood vessels very close to the skin's surface, so keeping them uncovered promotes heat dissipation and improves the feeling of coolness on hot days.

In addition, there is an aesthetic issue that has gained weight in modern cycling. Competing without gloves has become a common image among professionals, and many amateurs have ended up adopting that same trend.

There is even a further twist, as seen with Evenepoel: not wearing gloves in the race and wearing them on the podium. The cyclist himself admitted that it is purely for marketing since there is a sponsor on his gloves that he must show on the podium.

Protection versus comfort

However, Seixas's accident has served to remind the main function of gloves when everything goes wrong.

Although current models are not specifically designed as a homologated protective element, palms made from synthetic materials or leather still act as a first barrier against asphalt abrasion.

In a fall at more than 60 or 70 km/h, the hands are often one of the first points of contact with the ground. Friction burns can be extremely painful and can even prevent holding the handlebars and continuing in the race.

That is precisely what Seixas experienced. Despite wearing gloves, he ended up with both hands seriously damaged. Without that minimum protection, he probably would not have been able to get back on the bike, and who knows if it could have completely affected his preparation for the Tour de France.

It is striking that in an era obsessed with aerodynamics, weight, and ventilation, it was the young 19-year-old Frenchman who reminded everyone of such a simple yet difficult-to-discuss reality after a fall on asphalt.