GC contenders left scratching their heads after chaotic Auvergne mountain stage: “It’s complicated, but we’ll do what we can”

There are still two tough mountain stages to come in the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, but the general classification contenders already have several minutes to make up. Luke Tuckwell of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe took the yellow jersey on Friday from the early breakaway, building a healthy lead over the riders we had marked out as the favorites before the race.

Tuckwell now leads Matteo Jorgenson of Visma | Lease a Bike by 2:34, while the Dutch team also has Bruno Armirail sitting second overall. For that reason, Visma did not contribute to the chase behind Tuckwell, stage winner Maxim Van Gils and the rest of the front group. “For us it was a good situation, because we had riders up front.”

One team that did have to ride was Paul Seixas’ Decathlon CMA CGM, which applied the pressure on the final climb. “It was a slightly strange race,” the Frenchman explained to L’Équipe. "The breakaway created some chaos and we were a little surprised by it, but the team was good and we gave everything to reduce the gap.”

“I want to compliment Stefan Bissegger and Daan Hoole, who rode on the front for more than 100 kilometers together,” said the team leader, who then put his climbing helpers to work. “We had agreed that we would test ourselves on the climb. It was a little too short to really make a difference, but we gained time on all the favorites except Del Toro, so that is positive.”

“It was a good test. At first Del Toro did not want to take turns, but when he saw that Jorgenson was no longer there, he did a few pulls, and I think he rode a great climb,” said Seixas, who is now 3:06 behind race leader Tuckwell. “Now we really have to make sure the race becomes hard. There are still six of us left in the team, including two strong rouleurs, so it is a bit complicated, but we will do what we can,” he promised.

Between Seixas and Del Toro — who did not speak after the finish — sit Mattias Skjelmose and Juan Ayuso, who crossed the line together. “It was a hard day, but as a team we did very well. Of course it would have been nice to finish a little further up, but Juan and I finished together and we are still well placed in the general classification. We can both still play our cards, and that could be an advantage in these final two stages,” said the Dane.

Ayuso agreed. “A hard day, that’s what it was. We basically went full gas all day. Somehow, we still managed to finish the stage well. Hopefully we can perform well again tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and hold on to our good position,” said the Spanish Lidl-Trek rider.

Netcompany INEOS lost a lot of time with Kévin Vauquelin, while Oscar Onley crashed heavily and eventually came in half an hour down. Santiago Buitrago of Bahrain Victorious also hit the deck and finished 27 minutes behind.

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]