Isaac Del Toro of UAE Team Emirates-XRG claimed his second successive summit finish victory to win the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, overturning Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe’s Luke Tuckwell’s narrow advantage on the final day.
Del Toro won the seventh stage to Grand Colombier and repeated his success on the HC climb to Plateau de Solaison, attacking just a few kilometres into the 11.5km climb.
No one was able to respond to 22-year-old Del Toro’s attack and his nearest challenger, Lidl-Trek’s Juan Ayuso, finished exactly a minute in arrears.
Tuckwell, who took yellow on stage six after placing third from the breakaway, finished eighth at Plateau de Solaison. It wasn’t enough to keep hold of yellow, but he did secure a highly commendable and unexpected second-place overall. Ayuso rounded out the podium.
Paul Seixas, the pre-race favourite, abandoned after the day’s first climb. He crashed hard on stage seven and had a number of cuts and bruises on his arms, hands and legs.
More to follow….
21-year-old Luke Tuckwell finished 1:43 adrift of stage winner Del Toro to lose yellow but still finished on the overall podium.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
How it happened
Results:Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, stage 8: Beaufort > Plateau de Solaison (120km)
1. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 3:35.07
2. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, at 1:00
3. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, at 1:02
4. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, at 1:31
5. Cristián Rodríguez (Esp) XDS-Astana, at same time
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Netcompany-Ineos, at 1:36
7. Maxim Van Girls (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, at 1:43
8. Luke Tuckwell (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
9. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Movistar
10. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, all at same time.
Final general classification
1. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 29:35.05
2. Luke Tuckwell (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, at 54s
3. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, at 1:17
4. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, at 1:36
5. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, at 1:46
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, at 2:41
7. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Movistar, at 3:11
8. Cristián Rodríguez (Esp) XDS-Astana, at 3:15
9. José Félix Parra (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, at 6:25
10. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, at 7:21
