Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) came out on top on another barmy day at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, celebrating alone atop the Grand Colombier to win stage 7.

The Mexican caught and passed early attacker Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) 1,500 metres from the summit of the hors-catégorie climb, opening a 24-second gap on the Spaniard, with Tobias Halland Johanessen (Uno-X) finishing third at 38 seconds.

Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar), and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) followed, but the story of the day was surely Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), the pre-race favourite, crashing after just 30km, chasing for nearly 60km, and then struggling on the final climb.

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Struggling is perhaps unfair. It was already extraordinary that he made it back from four minutes down. And after losing the wheel early on the final climb, it was equally extraordinary that he didn’t fall away completely, with the Frenchman producing a battling, blood-stained display that left him barely able to stand at the finish.

He crossed the line 1:21 down on Del Toro, which is a major blow to his hopes of winning this race. But somehow, with one huge mountain stage to go, he’s not yet out of it.

And neither is Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). The young Australian, the unlikely race leader after Friday’s race-changing breakaway, produced a spirited defense of the yellow jersey to take it into the final day.

Tuckwell placed 11th on the day, 2:33 down on Del Toro, and now leads the race formerly known as the Critérium du Dauphiné by 42 seconds over Jorgenson, with Del Toro jumping seven places into third at 49 seconds.

“It’s just crazy to be in this position,” said Del Toro. “It’s kind of hard for me to manage these long climbs, but I’m getting used to it and getting better with each race. I was not full of confidence, but I really wanted to try and take the win today.

“Today was not my best performance, but I’m up there, so I’m super happy. I’m still hungry, and it’s something that gives me life for the next races.”

Paul Seixas crashes after neutralised descent

The penultimate stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes served up a brutal 133km route with some punchy early climbs followed by a double ascent of the Grand Colombier, first up the hair-pinned ‘lacets’ side and finally the steeper side, with the summit finish measuring 8.4km at an average gradient of 10.2%.

It was an attritional day, and the withdrawals started before the race began, with no fewer than 13 riders failing to report for the start. Key names among them were Oscar Onley, with the Netcompany-Ineos rider heading for scans after falling into a ravine the previous day, while the struggling João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) also bowed out, and Visma-Lease a Bike were left with four riders after illness forced Jorgen Nordhagen and Per Strand Hagenes out.

The stage itself started in ripping fashion, with Kévin Vauqeulin (Netcompany-Ineos) among the attackers as the route climbed the category-2 Col du Banchet from the gun. The Frenchman, who was touted as a GC leader, was dropped a couple of climbs later and fell out of the GC running.

Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United) led Vauquelin over the top of the Banchet to extend his lead in the mountains classification, and he added more points to his tally atop the category-4 Col de la Crusille soon after.

At that point, no attack had stuck, and it was only briefly on the category-2 Côte de Saint-Maurice-de-Rotherens that a move went clear, with Clément Berthet (Groupama-FDJ United) leading the race over the climb. But racing paused when the organisers decided to neutralise part of the descent due to gravel on the roads, re-starting the race at kilometre 30.

It was soon after that, on the lower portion of the descent, that Seixas crashed, overcooking a corner when, as he later admitted, he took too many risks trying to move through the bunch. Seixas lay on a grass bank at the roadside for a couple of minutes before remounting, leaving himself with a huge amount of ground to make up.

Starting four minutes down and initially alone, he linked up with teammates Stefan Bissegger and Daan Hoole to plug the gap in the 30km valley before the first ascent of Grand Colombier. Despite no breakaway forming and a high pace in the attacking peloton, the trio managed to hold the gap and even make inroads.

The tide turned on the category-1 climb, where a breakaway formed, containing 10 riders: Quinn Simmons, Valentin Paret-Peintre, George Bennett, Clément Braz Afonso, Pello Bilbao, Carlos Rodriguez, Sergio Samitier, Jordan Jegat, Laurens De Plus and Clément Berthet.

Behind, Seixas linked up with climbers Aurélien Paret-Peinter and Nicolas Prodhomme to reduce the gap to the bunch to less than a minute at the summit, just under 60km from home.

Despite Simmons dropping from the break to pace the peloton, where Visma and UAE were also working, Seixas, now linking up with Léo Bisiaux, continued to close the gap on the descent and the subsequent valley drag. Amazingly, he was back in the fray with 36km to go.

The category-2 Col de Richemond came in between the twin ascents of Grand Colombier, and while it passed quietly for Seixas and the GC group, the breakaway had been reduced to five riders. Berthet, who was also first atop the first Grand Colombier, claimed the points again at the top of the Col de Richemond, where only four remained. Bennett and Paret-Peintre were still there, as was Laurens De Plus, but without his leader, Carlos Rodríguez, who was dropped on another day of disappointment.

In any case, the gap at the top was slim, and it was wiped out on the descent towards the foot of the final climb, with Simmons setting a fierce approach pace for Lidl-Trek.

The final climb

As the road ramped up, Seixas soon lost the wheel, along with Tuckwell, but the pair dangled rather than dropped for a good couple of kilometres.

Ayuso ignited the attacks 6.7km from the top. At first, Jorgenson’s teammate Ben Tullett marked it before dropping back for his leader, who was joined by Del Toro, Johanessen, and Uijdtebroeks.

Further back, Bisiaux was pacing Seixas in a group that also contained Tuckwell, Skjelmose, Cristian Rodriguez (XDS Astana) and Jose Felix Parra (Caja Rural).

When Bisiaux pulled over 5km from home, 38 seconds down on Ayuso and 23 down on the Del Toro group, Seixas grimaced and pushed on, soon dropping Tuckwell and the other members of his group apart from Skjelmose. He started to reduce the gap to those out in front, but Del Toro very soon turned the race on its head, attacking 4.5km from the top.

Del Toro marched clear and steadily closed the gap to Ayuso, making the junction with 1.7km to go. It looked like the pair might combine together, but after a short breather, Del Toro kicked again and was quickly alone.

Ayuso could see Del Toro on the straight but punishingly steep final drag towards the line, but could do nothing about the Mexican’s superiority. Behind, Johanessen attacked and dropped Jorgenson and Uijtdebroeks, stealing three seconds by the top.

And behind them, Skjelmose skipped away from Seixas to take sixth place on the day, with the Frenchman crossing the line in seventh and then almost collapsing.

All in all, it was another mad day in what has been a mad race so far, and the maddest thing of all is that Seixas is still in it. In fact, as we go into a short but oh-so brutal four-col mountain finale on Sunday, this race is still wide open.

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