Del Toro flies as Seixas crashes
June 13 th 2026 - 16:40
Stage 7 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2026 was highly anticipated, but nobody could have predicted the breathtaking scenario witnessed from La Bridoire to a brutal summit finish up the Grand Colombier (133.6 km). Attackers gave their all on the first ascents of the day, but the race dynamics were mostly affected by the crash suffered by Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) on a downhill section, 32 kilometres after the start. The French youngster battled the pain to make his way back to the bunch after around 65 kilometres of chasing. But he couldn’t keep up with the best on the final ascent of the day, leaving the front positions to a couple of other wonderkids. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) attacked early on the climb, before Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) caught up to him inside the last 2 kilometres and eventually dropped him to take victory. Paul Seixas lost 1’21’’, while Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) dropped 2’33’’. The young Aussie retains the yellow and blue leader’s jersey with a gap of 42 seconds over Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), and 49 seconds over Del Toro.
Braz Afonso on the hunt
There are 114 riders left at the start in La Bridoire as Gal Glivar (Alpecin-Premier Tech) crashed in the parade after Joao Almeida (UAE Emirates-XRG), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-Quick Step), Gijs Leemreize, Dilon Corkery, James Knox (Picnic PostNL), Emanuel Buchman, Louis Rouland (Cofidis), Nicola Conci (XDS Astana), Per Strand Hagenes, Jorgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike), Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) and Marco Frigo (NSN) withdrew from the race.
Shortly after the start, a trio of French climbers break away with Kévin Vauquelin (Netcompany Ineos), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) and Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ), but were reeled back in by the peloton just after crossing the Col du Banchet (km 5.1). The polka-dot jersey holder pushes hard on the Col de la Crusille and consolidates his lead in the mountains classification, but that’s not enough to make the breakaway.
Seixas on the ground
The race is temporarily neutralised to allow the riders to descend at a moderate speed down a stretch made dangerous by loose gravel following the Côte de Saint-Maurice-de-Rotherens.
Shortly after the race restarts at km 30, Paul Seixas falls into a ditch. Accompanied by Bisseger and Hoole, the Frenchman is 4 minutes behind the peloton at km 50.
Meanwhile, the battle for the break goes on. At km 51, Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) launch a new move. Several riders join them in the ascent of Lacets du Grand Colombier, with Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies), Bennett (NSN), Berthet (Groupama-FDJ United), Simmons (Lidl-Trek), De Plus, Rodriguez (Netcompany Ineos), V. Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Jegat (TotalEnergies) and Samitier (Cofidis).
Seixas returns
On the descent towards Anglefort (km 83.1), the leading group is reduced to five riders: De Plus, Rodriguez, Berthet, Bennett and V. Paret-Peintre. They reach the intermediate sprint at Chanay (km 95.6) with a 45-second lead over the yellow jersey peloton.
Now helped by Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Nicolas Prodhomme, Paul Seixas is 30 seconds behind alongside his teammates as well as, notably, Vauquelin and Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). With the decisive help of Léo Bisiaux over a few kilometres, they eventually catch up with the main field 36 km from the finish.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike keep working together at the front of the bunch. The attackers are caught with 12 kilometres to go, just before the brutal ascent of Grand Colombier from Virieu-le-Petit (8.4 km at 10.2%).
Ayuso tries, Del Toro flies
Juan Ayuso attacks early on the climb, with 7 kilometres remaining. Ben Tulett and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) try to control the Spaniard’s move while Paul Seixas and Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) struggle to keep up.
As the gap to Ayuso increases to 20 seconds, Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) counter-attacks with 4 kilometres to go. He gets back to the front rider a couple of kilometres later and rapidly drops him to take off to victory.
On the line, Ayuso loses 24 seconds. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) completes the stage top-3 (+38’’) ahead of Matteo Jorgenson (+41’’). Paul Seixas trails by 1’21’’, and Luke Tuckwell by 2’33’’. The young Australian climber retains the yellow and blue leader’s jersey with a gap of 42 seconds over Matteo Jorgenson.
