'The worst week in my life on the bike' - Eduardo Sepúlveda battling through Tour de France to reach Paris
Argentine talks to Global Peloton about illness at the Tour, Lotto's merger talks and reflects ten years on from his Tour de France debut disqualification
Eduardo Sepúlveda is Argentina’s only professional rider. He’s currently two-thirds into his fourth Tour de France and is fighting to reach Paris due to an illness he picked up in week one.
I spoke to the Lotto rider on the Tour’s second rest day about his race so far and the impact of Intermarché/Lotto merger talks on the team.
That part of the interview is available for free: subscribe to read on about his reflections ten years after he was disqualified from his debut Tour for riding in the back of a car and his thoughts on the development of Argentinian cycling as the sole Argentine pro in the bunch.
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The beauty of the Tour de France is that although there is one race happening, it is being seen from 180 different perspectives. Tadej Pogačar may be putting all his rivals to the sword at the front of the race, but there are many other narratives that come together to form the full story.
Eduardo Sepúlveda’s Tour de France so far has been a fight for survival. His aim now is to make it to Paris for the third time in his career after a facing illness for the first two weeks.
The Argentinian came into the Tour showing good form, finishing the Tour de Suisse in 18th place. However, he’s struggled with his breathing since the race started, which has meant he hasn’t been able to be as competitive as he would like.
“I was feeling sick since the first day. I think it was a bit of allergies. But day by day I was feeling worse,” the Lotto climber tells Global Peloton during the Tour’s second rest day after a one-hour spin with his team-mates to keep his tired legs moving.
“The second week for me was the worst week in my life on the bike. I have the goal to reach Paris. So I hope it's going to be possible.”
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The 2025 edition of the race has been non-stop, as Visma-Lease a Bike looked to put pressure on Pogačar and the Slovenian has responded by taking more than four minutes out of Jonas Vingegaard.
At the rear of the peloton, for those struggling, the race has been brutal. Sepúveda’s role so far has been two-fold: to survive and to help the team’s best climber, Lennart van Eetvelt, when he can.
“I can tell you it's not nice, because when you see the average of every stage, they're going very fast,” he says of the speed of the race.
“The first days, I was focussing on my goal, which was to survive to the finish, but also keeping an eye on Lenny, because he was supposed to do the GC. And then taking care of the guys, they were all around Arnaud [De Lie].
“Then suddenly now we lose also Lenny [DNS - stage 15]. So I hope because we are in the mountain stages now, we can do something…And Arnaud, he's very motivated for the stage in Paris, so I hope we can also have a chance to win the stage, because he was also so close. So, I think he's looking forward for the opportunity.”
The biggest news story around the Lotto team at this year’s Tour has been the discovery of merger negotiations between the ProTeam and Intermarché-Wanty, which will mean dozens of riders are looking for new contracts for 2026 - potentially including Biniam Girmay.
Sepúlveda himself is in a contract year and is yet to sign either an extension with Lotto or with anyone else. The riders don’t know much about what is happening with the team and Sepúlveda says the news has added some extra pressure to the race for him.
“I don't have a contract, so, yes, personally, it gives a bit more of a stress. Anyway, with or without contact, the riders, when preparing for the Tour they want to perform in the race. But now, having no contract is also an extra motivation to try to do well in the Tour.”
“But also, okay, now I'm very sick, and also the level is so high, so maybe my goal is to try to reach Paris, but after the Tour I'm trying to finish good the season, because it's for me, but also for my future, and also for the team,” he says.
‘This was a huge mistake’ - a decade on from disqualification
This year marks a decade since Sepúlveda’s first participation in La Grand Boucle, and it would be fair to say that he has come a long way in that time. Now a respected and established climbing domestique, he ended his first Tour under the cloud of a disqualification after travelling in a team car on the course.
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