The rider

Nicolas Prodhomme is the late bloomer every development system hopes it has not overlooked. For years he looked like a loyal, useful climber in the AG2R lineage, the kind of rider teams need but neutrals rarely discuss. Then 2025 changed the frame completely: six pro wins, a Giro mountain-stage victory in the Alps, and a new sense that his endurance and race reading had finally caught up with his opportunity. Decathlon now bring him to the Tour as one of the experienced French climbers around Seixas.

That experience matters because Prodhomme understands the terrain between domestique work and personal ambition. On days built for the GC leaders, he can pace, fetch, close and stabilize. On days where the favourites hesitate and a breakaway is allowed room, he has the confidence of someone who knows he can finish off a mountain stage at Grand Tour level. For a team trying to balance Seixas's development with broader stage-hunting goals, that makes him more than just mountain labour.

His value also has a national texture. A French team taking a teenage French leader to the Tour needs riders who can absorb some of the emotional temperature around him. Prodhomme can do that in practical ways: guiding position before a climb, keeping the rhythm steady after a bad moment, and reminding the group that the Tour is three weeks long. His own breakthrough came through patience. That makes him an ideal mentor for a project that wants to move quickly without burning itself up.