Del Toro Best but Misses Yellow

Isaac Del Toro underlined his storming pre-Tour form with a stirring stage win on day 7 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on Saturday, triumphing atop the Grand Colombier climb.

The Mexican rider drove clear of Matteo Jorgenson and others with 4.2km remaining, bridging to his former UAE Emirate-XRG teammate Juan Ayuoso (Lidl-Trek) with 1.7km to go. He attacked him almost immediately and went on to win, with Ayuso 24 seconds back. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) was third, 38 seconds back, with Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar Team) at 41.

“I was not full of confidence but I really wanted to try to take the win today,” said Del Toro.

French hero Paul Seixas crashed approximately 30km in the stage and found himself almost four minutes back. He had a very long chase and only rejoined with 37km left, with the energy used plus the effects of the crash seeing him dropped with 8km left.

He fought hard to limit his losses, conceding 1:21 to Del Toro in finishing seventh, while overnight leader Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) lost 2:33 but held onto yellow.

He will begin the final stage 42 seconds ahead of Jorgenson, and a further seven up on Del Toro.

The latter is a big threat, not least because he is becoming better at judging his efforts.

“It is kind of hard for me to manage these long climbs but I get used to it and I am going better and better every race,” he said.

“I think today was not my best performance, but I was up there. So I am super happy to still arrive in good shape and keep going in this direction. For sure I am still hungry, so it is something that keeps me alive for the next races.”

More to follow soon…