Dauphiné Stage 6: Red Bull Doubles Up with Stage and GC, Seixas Can’t Gap Del Toro in Mountain Final

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe won twice in a wild mountain stage in the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on Friday.

Maxim Van Gils won a sprint of three breakaway riders for his first win since a terrible injury, while his teammate Luke Tuckwell joined Isaac del Toro and Paul Seixas in the wunderkind party.

Tuckwell finished third on Friday’s 6th stage and moved to the top of GC of the race once called the Critérium du Dauphiné. The 21-year-old Aussie animated the breakaway and pulled Van Gils, Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), and Pablo Torres  (UAE Emirates-XRG) away from the move in the final 5km of the summit finish.

“This is one of the most beautiful days in my career,” stage-winner Van Gils said at the finish. “I always stayed positive after the crash, to win in the Dauphiné, my girlfriend is from here, it’s a region I really love.

“It’s a beautiful day for the team. Without a big GC leader … to take the yellow jersey is really big,” Van Gils said.

Seixas doesn’t land GC strike

Back in the peloton, Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) pushed the accelerator at around 4km to go of the final climb to Crest-Voland but couldn’t shake his GC rivals Del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike).

Seixas and Del Toro crossed the line together, 3:15 back on Van Gils.

Jorgenson finished 13 seconds further back after he was gapped in the final kilometers but chased hard to limit his losses.

“It was crazy from the start,” Jorgenson said at the line. “I watched the big group ride away at the start and thought it was going to be a hard day.

“At the start of the final climb, Decathlon went nuclear,” Jorgenson continued. “I held on as long as I could without totally blowing up, then I went my own pace.”

Overnight race leader Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) crumbled out of the yellow jersey on Friday. He missed the early split that shaped the stage and was then gapped on the climb to the line.

This was a wild day of racing that totally upended the battle for GC.

Tuckwell leads the race for yellow by 1:12 over breakaway riders Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Guillaume Martin (Groupama-FDJ).

Jorgenson heads up the pack of classification favorites at 2:34, with Seixas a further 30 seconds back.

Two more huge stages in the Alps will test Tuckwell to the max.

Seixas is swinging for the win as he works toward the Tour de France. The 19-year-old has to cut a 3-minute deficit to do it.

Baudin and Decathlon drop the ball

The first installment of the Dauphiné’s decisive triple-header through the Alps did not play per the script.

A break of 60 riders – yes sixty – got away in a lightning fast first hour of racing and Decathlon CMA CGM and EF Education-EasyPost lost control.

The Decathlon team of overall favorite Seixas didn’t get any riders into the break. Overnight race leader Baudin also missed a move that included a handful of GC threats. Tuckwell was a particular worry for Baudin after he started only 1:03 back.

Decathlon and EF collaborated in the chase in the back-half of the stage, but it was too little too late.

Van Gils, Tuckwell, and the attacking group hit the back-to-back climbs in the final 20km with almost 5 minutes of a gap, and the stage was set.

Top Tour de France riders quit Dauphiné tune-up

Several riders didn’t start the stage Friday due to an illness sweeping the peloton.

Two of the most notable non-starters were Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla).

Van Aert is struggling with an elbow injury and faces questions ahead of the Tour de France. Matthews bailed out of his comeback race to focus on recovering for the Big Show next month.

Josh Tarling (Netcompany Ineos) was another key name to leave the race. The big Welshman quit after he came down in a nasty crash. He’s now racing to recover for the team time trial that opens Le Tour.

Critérium du Dauphiné stage 6 results