Ready for the Tour: Del Toro channels his inner Pogačar to take stage and overall win at Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

The eighth and final stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes was won by Isaac del Toro. The Mexican rider from UAE Team Emirates-XRG launched an acceleration early on the final climb that nobody could answer, riding clear to claim both his second stage victory and the overall title. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) finished second at a respectable distance, ahead of Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility). Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) abandoned early on.

The legs will have felt heavy on Sunday morning, after seven stages and two tough mountain days in a row. But the race was not over yet, because on paper the final stage was the hardest of them all. With four climbs and a mountain-top finish, it was set up to be the decisive day, especially with the general classification still packed so tightly.

Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) had put himself in an excellent position overall, but the resilient Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) had held onto the yellow jersey with an impressive effort. On top of that, Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) were all still within a minute and a half of the race lead.

Others had already lost more time, but saw opportunities in a brutal opening phase. From the start, the road went straight uphill on the Col du Pré. That was where a breakaway formed with Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM), Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) and Valentin Paret-Peintre, while Laurens De Plus and Carlos Rodríguez of Netcompany INEOS were also present.

Their leader Oscar Onley was out of the race, but Kévin Vauquelin was still there. The Frenchman was already more than six minutes down, but he jumped across to the breakaway and joined his teammates, along with Geoffroy Bouchard (TotalEnergies). Meanwhile, Paul Seixas was struggling. The young Frenchman had crashed hard on Saturday, but had impressively fought his way back. One day later, the adrenaline seemed to have worn off: he was dropped with more than 100 kilometers still to race.

The breakaway then began the Montée de Bisanne, but the gap to the peloton remained small. UAE Team Emirates-XRG took control at the front of the bunch and never allowed the escapees to gain more than two minutes. Meanwhile, Seixas called it a day: it became clear that he was still in too much pain. The Col des Aravis was the next test, and the penultimate climb before the final ascent.

The summit came 50 kilometers from the finish, so things stayed relatively calm in the reduced peloton, which still contained around 50 riders. On the Col des Aravis, the leaders’ advantage had fallen to just 30 seconds, mainly thanks to some huge work from Lidl-Trek. White jersey wearer Juan Ayuso had dreams of yellow, and he was not exactly hiding them.

The following descent was a long, gradual drop toward Thuet. From there, the road would rise again for the final 11.5 kilometers toward Plateau de Solaison. The breakaway had slightly increased its lead in the valley, but once the road tilted upward, the riders out front knew that 50 seconds was probably not going to be enough. That was why Paret-Peintre accelerated early, with Rodríguez on his wheel.

In the peloton, UAE Team Emirates-XRG was still leading, putting pressure on race leader Tuckwell. With nine kilometers to go, the young Australian had to let a gap open, together with Cian Uijtdebroeks. Pablo Torres then delivered a superb lead-out, riding everyone off his wheel before team leader Del Toro attacked. And nobody could respond.

Visma | Lease a Bike put Ben Tulett to work in the chase, but the pace was not high enough. Mattias Skjelmose then moved to the front for Ayuso. The Mexican champion quickly reached the leaders and soon left them behind. Within two kilometers, Del Toro had stretched his advantage to 30 seconds, and he did not look like fading.

Skjelmose had emptied himself, so Ayuso took up the chase. By that point, however, the gap was already more than 40 seconds. The Spaniard’s acceleration was impressive: he simply rode away from Jorgenson, Johannessen, Rodríguez, Skjelmose and Cristián Rodríguez (XDS Astana). Meter by meter, he began to edge closer to the leader. Had Del Toro gone too early?

That had been the case for Ayuso on Saturday, but now the roles were reversed. Del Toro, however, did not crack, while Ayuso began to struggle more. Behind them, Johannessen dropped Jorgenson. The American was having a difficult moment, fell away from the chasing group and joined the yellow jersey group, where Maxim Van Gils was doing heavy work for the general classification leader.

That leader lost yellow on the final day. Del Toro was unstoppable and took not only his second stage win in a row, but also the overall victory. Ayuso came in one minute down, just ahead of the fast-finishing Johannessen.

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]