
Mexican Isaac del Toro won Saturday's seventh stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes 2026 to close in on overall leader Luke Tuckwell, while pre-race favorite Paul Seixas lost time due to a crash.
Del Toro timed his move to perfection on the final climb of the 133-kilometer stage from La Bridoire to Grand Colombier, passing Spaniard Juan Ayuso with just 1.5 kilometers to ride.
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Ayuso had been the first to attack on the punishing Grand Colombier climb to the finish, with around 7 kilometers to ride after the remnants of the day's breakaway were caught just before that final ascent.
But Del Toro, 22, kept him in his sights, despite falling back a maximum of 25 seconds at one point, and when he made his surge for victory, Ayuso could not respond.
It was a timely return to form for Del Toro, who won the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico earlier in the year, before he crashed out of the Tour of the Basque Country in April.
"It's just crazy to be in this position," Del Toro said. "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."
His mood was in stark contrast to Ayuso's.
"I'm just disappointed because I went obviously too far out, too early, and I threw away the win," moaned the 23-year-old Ayuso.
A Comeback Like No Other For Paul Seixas At Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes 2026
Teenage French prodigy Seixas lost 1 minute, 21 seconds to Del Toro by the line, but that was in itself a remarkable performance given his earlier crash with just under 100 kilometers to ride.
Seixas took his time to gingerly climb back onto his bike and then embarked on a 60-kilometer chase to rejoin the peloton, which at one point was four minutes ahead of him.
"It's really incredible that we closed that four minutes without help from anyone, without panicking," said Julien Jurdie, one of two sporting directors at Seixas's Decathlon CMA CDG team. "Paul stayed very calm. With Luke (Rowe, the other sporting director) in the car, we'd never seen that before."
He certainly fared much better than Briton Oscar Onley, who pulled out of the race in the morning after he had crashed into a ravine Friday, eventually losing almost half an hour to his rivals for the overall victory.
Australian Tuckwell did enough to keep hold of the yellow and blue leader's jersey for Sunday's final stage, giving up 2:33 to Del Toro.
Tuckwell had stuck to Seixas's wheel on the final climb but started losing contact with about 5 kilometers to ride, after which, he fought to limit his losses.
Del Toro moved up to third overall in the standings, 49 seconds behind Tuckwell and just seven seconds behind American Matteo Jorgenson, who was fourth on the stage at 41 seconds.
Ayuso, who was second on the day at 24 seconds, moved up to fourth overall at 1:06, while Seixas is sixth at 1:54.
Sunday's final stage is just 120 kilometers from Beaufort to Plateau de Solaison-Brison, but it includes four brutal climbs.
It starts with the shortest and steepest climb, the Col du Pre (6.9km at an average gradient of 10.1%) and finishes with the toughest, an 11.3-kilometer slog at an average gradient of 9.1%.
Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes 2026 Stage 7 Results – Top 25
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 3:41:41
- Juan Ayuso (Lidl - Trek) – 3:42:05
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) – 3:42:19
- Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 3:42:22
- Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar Team) – 3:42:22
- Paul Seixas (Lidl - Trek) – 3:42:58
- Mattias Skjelmose (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 3:43:02
- Cristián Rodríguez (XDS Astana Team) – 3:44:10
- José Félix Parra (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) – 3:44:12
- Jan Castellon (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) – 3:44:14
- Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) – 3:44:14
- Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 3:44:37
- Lennart Jasch (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) – 3:44:48
- Ben Tulett (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 3:44:59
- Jordan Jegat (EF Education - EasyPost) – 3:46:12
- Alex Baudin (TotalEnergies) – 3:46:12
- Guillaume Martin (Groupama - FDJ United) – 3:46:12
- Kévin Vauquelin (Netcompany INEOS) – 3:46:43
- Lars Craps (Lotto Intermarché) – 3:48:02
- Georg Steinhauser (EF Education - EasyPost) – 3:48:06
- Sam Maisonobe (Cofidis) – 3:48:19
- Clément Berthet (Groupama - FDJ United) – 3:48:44
- Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin - Premier Tech) – 3:48:59
- Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 3:50:16
- Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 3:51:32
Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes 2026 Overall Standings – Top 25 After Stage 7
- Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) – 25:59:09
- Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 25:59:51
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 25:59:58
- Juan Ayuso (Lidl - Trek) – 26:00:15
- Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) – 26:00:42
- Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 26:01:03
- Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl - Trek) – 26:01:08
- Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar Team) – 26:01:26
- José Félix Parra (XDS Astana Team) – 26:01:42
- Cristián Rodríguez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) – 26:02:11
- Guillaume Martin (Groupama - FDJ United) – 26:03:07
- Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) – 26:03:49
- Alex Baudin (EF Education - EasyPost) – 26:04:45
- Kévin Vauquelin (Netcompany INEOS) – 26:05:28
- Jan Castellon (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) – 26:06:26
- Sam Maisonobe (Cofidis) – 26:06:49
- Lennart Jasch (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) – 26:07:29
- Lars Craps (Lotto Intermarché) – 26:07:51
- Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin - Premier Tech) – 26:08:48
- Ben Tulett (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) – 26:09:42
- Clément Berthet (Groupama - FDJ United) – 26:09:44
- Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team) – 26:12:09
- Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) – 26:13:39
- Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) – 26:16:00
- Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) – 26:16:14
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