Del Toro wins Auvergne Tour stage but Tuckwell retains lead / Photo: © AFP
Del Toro wins Auvergne Tour stage but Tuckwell retains lead
Mexican Isaac del Toro won Saturday's seventh stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes to close in on overall leader Luke Tuckwell as pre-race favourite Paul Seixas lost time due to a crash.
Del Toro timed his move to perfection on the final climb of the 133km stage from La Bridoire to Grand Colombier, passing Spaniard Juan Ayuso with just 1.5km to ride.
Ayuso had been the first to attack on the punishing Grand Colombier climb to the finish, with around 7km to ride.
But Del Toro 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.
Teenage French prodigy Seixas lost 1min 21sec to Del Toro by the line but that was in itself a remarkable performance given his earlier crash with just under 100km to ride.
Seixas took his time to gingerly climb back onto his bike and then embarked on a 60km-long chase to rejoin the peloton, which at one point was 4min ahead of him.
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.
The Mexican moved up to third overall in the standings, 49sec behind Tuckwell and just seven seconds behind American Matteo Jorgenson, who was fourth on the stage at 41sec.
Ayuso, who was second on the day at 24sec, moved up to fourth overall at 1:06, while Seixas is sixth at 1:54.
E.Carter--VC
