{"id":638643,"date":"2026-06-14T18:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T18:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/638643\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T18:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T18:22:14","slug":"tour-auvergne-rhone-alpes-isaac-del-toro-claims-overall-title-with-second-consecutive-mountaintop-victory-at-plateau-de-solaison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/638643\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes: Isaac del Toro claims overall title with second consecutive mountaintop victory at Plateau de Solaison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaac del Toro<\/a> (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) snatched the overall title at the Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes<\/a>, producing a commanding display to win his second successive stage and wrestle the yellow jersey from the shoulders of Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) on the final day.<\/p>\n

Del Toro started the final day in third place, 49 seconds behind Tuckwell, and he wiped out almost all of that deficit within one kilometre of a devastating attack issued 9km from the summit of the hors-cat\u00e9gorie Plateau de Solaison.<\/p>\n

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The Mexican breezed up the rest of the 10% climb with apparent ease and crossed the line alone more than a minute clear.<\/p>\n

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Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) came home in second place, having attacked from the select chase group 5.5km from the top, with Tobias Halland Johanessen (Uno-X) mobility taking third place just behind after a stirring later counter-attack of his own.<\/p>\n

Tuckwell, the unlikely leader, lost the yellow jersey but went down swinging.<\/p>\n

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The 21-year-old Australian looked like he might plummet down the standings when he was dropped even before Del Toro had launched his attack early on the Solaison climb. But, aided by a stirring domestique display from Maxim Van Gils, he produced a remarkable comeback to work his way back up towards the chasing riders on the second half of the climb.<\/p>\n

Tuckwell even caught \u2013 and passed \u2013 the rider who\u2019d started the day closest to him, with Matteo Jorgenson suddenly coming undone on the upper reaches of the climb and ending up in 10th place.<\/p>\n

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There was no Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) on the results sheet as the Frenchman was dropped on the opening climb of the day and climbed off after the descent<\/a>, the previous day\u2019s crash and chase finally taking its toll.<\/p>\n

As the dust settled on a wildly eventful race in its first edition since the change of name from the Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9, Del Toro stood atop the podium to celebrate the third WorldTour stage race success of his season, following the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico.<\/p>\n

Tuckwell held on for a highly-creditable and breakthrough second place overall, 54 seconds back, while Ayuso completed the final podium at 1:17.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s super nice, I\u2019m super happy about today. It\u2019s super cool to have the victory with the team. We fought for it, and it\u2019s crazy nice. I cannot believe it,\u201d said Del Toro.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe planned to have it all in order \u2013 I knew after yesterday, everyone would start to look at me. My teammates did an incredible job today. Pablo [Torres] launched me insane, and I kept going until the end. If I knew was it was 9km I probably don\u2019t go but I went with the flow and I\u2019m super happy to manage it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Seixas abandons<\/p>\n

At the start of the stage, all eyes were on Paul Seixas, who was spotted in his team kit walking from his hotel to his team bus, and then duly reported for duty and vowed to \u201cfight until the end\u201d. There were several more non-starters in this attritional Dauphin\u00e9, including Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) due to fever.<\/p>\n

There was no easing into this finale, which climbed the first-category Col du Pr\u00e9 almost from the gun, followed by the hors-cat\u00e9gorie Mont\u00e9e de Bisanne, the cat-1 Col des Aravis (7km at 6.8%), and finally the hors-cat\u00e9gorie Plateau de Solaison (11.4km at 9.1%) \u2013 all in the space of just 120km<\/p>\n

It was an explosive start, but a breakaway did soon form on the Col du Pr\u00e9 (6.9km at 10.1%), containing the Netcompany-Ineos duo of Laurens De Plus and Carlos Rodriguez, Seixas\u2019 teammate L\u00e9o Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM), the mountains classification leader Cl\u00e9ment Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United), along with Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana).<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t quite done, as Geoffrey Bouchard (TotalEnergies) launched a counter-attack and K\u00e9vin Vauquelin looked to try and make it three Ineos riders in the break. They\u2019d both make contact on the descent down the other side of the mountain.<\/p>\n

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\"BRISON,\n<\/p>\n

The breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The original seven reached the top of the Col du Pr\u00e9 after 10.5km with a lead of 1:30 over the peloton, from which Seixas had already been dropped. The Frenchman hauled himself over the top of the climb and started the descent, but he was well down, clearly hurting, and soon the call was made to throw in the towel.<\/p>\n

Onto the Mont\u00e9e de Bisanne (11.4km at 7.7%) and Bouchard and Vauquelin, so soon after joining, were dropped near the top, along with Bisiaux. Braz Afonso made no mistake again at the summit, with the peloton \u2013 led by UAE and Lidl-Trek \u2013 2:30 in arrears.<\/p>\n

With numbers up front, Ineos were pushing the break on through the intermediate sprint in Les Gli\u00e8res with 54km to go, and then onto the Col des Aravis (7km at 6.8%). With the KOM jersey now sewn up, Braz Afonso allowed Ineos to stay on the front over the top of the Aravis, but things weren\u2019t looking good for the break with the gap reduced to just 40 seconds.<\/p>\n

The final climb<\/p>\n

That gap remained stable for the long and relatively gentle run-down into the valley, and by the time they hit the foot of the final climb towards the Plateau de Solaison (11.3 km \u00e0 9.1%), they had even found a few more seconds, starting it 50 seconds ahead.<\/p>\n

However, that came tumbling down when UAE took over from Lidl-Trek on the lower slopes, setting a fearsome tempo that would soon set up Del Toro\u2019s attack. Pavel Sivakov shredded the already-reduced peloton, and his turn saw the first signs of success as Tuckwell lost contact.<\/p>\n

After a briefer turn from Pablo Torres, Del Toro took flight 9km from the summit. He breezed across the gap to the final two remaining breakaway riders \u2013 Rodr\u00edguez and Paret-Peintre \u2013 before skipping away from them. It soon became clear this was a devastating attack; within a kilometre, Tuckwell was 40 seconds down and on the brink of being virtually divested of yellow. In between, Jorgenson and Ayuso led the chase via their teammates Ben Tulett and Mattias Skjelmose, respectively, but likewise the deficit of that small chase group \u2013 which also contained Johanessen (Uno-X), Cristian Rodr\u00edguez (XDS Astana) and an impressive Carlos Rodr\u00edguez from the break \u2013 only continued to grow over the next few kilometres.<\/p>\n

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\"UAE\n<\/p>\n

Isaac del Toro surges on the final climb (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The gap had reached 40 seconds when Ayuso took it on himself to attack with 5.5km to go, launching a solo chase to try and flip the script from the previous afternoon. He looked to be making inroads as he saved a few seconds off the gap, but he soon slipped back out towards the minute-mark with 2.5km to go. At that point, Johanessen attacked from the chase, and Jorgenson surprisingly dropped from it.<\/p>\n

Tuckwell, meanwhile, had rediscovered his legs half-way up the climb for a second summit finish in a row. He had stemmed the tide \u2013 not to Del Toro but to the rest \u2013 and he started to inch back closer to them, even catching the ailing Jorgenson.<\/p>\n

Del Toro finished the job with a smile on his face in the final few hundred metres, while a storming Johanessen almost caught Ayuso on the line. Skjelmose and Cristian Rodr\u00edguez were next, soon followed by Carlos Rodr\u00edguez, before Van Gils led Tuckwell home for a ride that didn\u2019t save the yellow jersey but did save the podium and nevertheless represented a huge success for the Australian.<\/p>\n

\n

\"UAE\n<\/p>\n

Isaac del Toro wins Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

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