"I can be very happy with the legs because I felt quite shit during the stage": Tobias Johannessen battles through extreme heat to climb into the top five at Auvergne

Tobias Johannessen produced another impressive ride on the penultimate stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (formerly the Critérium du Dauphiné) finishing third atop the Grand Colombier and moving into fifth place overall. The Uno-X Mobility rider was pleased with his own performance after a difficult day in the heat, but he reserved special praise for teenage Frenchman Paul Seixas, who recovered from an early crash to finish among the stage’s leading riders.

After narrowly missing out on victory from the breakaway on Friday's summit finish to Crest-Voland, Johannessen responded strongly on the race's toughest mountain stage. The Norwegian crossed the line 38 seconds behind stage winner Isaac del Toro and 14 seconds behind Juan Ayuso, climbing from twelfth to fifth overall.

“I'm happy with the performance and yeah, super tough day,” Johannessen said in a post-race interview. “So, I feel like I can be very happy with the legs because I felt quite shit during the stage. It was so hard and so warm, but I think it was the same for everyone.”

The result leaves Johannessen 1:33 behind race leader Luke Tuckwell and within striking distance of the podium ahead of the final mountain stage. His rise through the standings is particularly impressive given that he lost nearly three minutes on the opening stage.

One of the day's standout performances came from Paul Seixas, who crashed early in the stage and briefly found himself more than three minutes behind the peloton. With support from his Decathlon CMA CGM Team teammates, the French rider managed to regain contact before the decisive climbs and eventually finished seventh on the stage.

"I misjudged a turn; I wanted to go wide, I thought the guy wasn't coming fast enough, and in fact, I came into the turn way too fast. I managed to recover, but then I ended up... there was a ditch filled with gravel. My wheel was almost in the ditch, and in the end, the wheel slipped," Seixas admitted in words after the stage.

Johannessen admitted he was impressed by the effort required to return to the front after such a setback. “I think it was just we had to continue, of course, since there were people in front,” he said. “But yeah, he must be crazy strong to close a gap like this, that's completely crazy.”

The Norwegian also stressed that the bigger objective remains the Tour de France, where Seixas is expected to play an important role. “I hope he can be all good and then the Tour is the most important for him,” Johannessen said. “So I think he's going to be in top shape for the Tour.”

With the queen stage remaining and more than 4,000 metres of climbing still to come, Johannessen remains firmly in the battle for a podium finish. While Del Toro, Matteo Jorgenson and race leader Tuckwell currently occupy the top positions in the general classification, the Norwegian has steadily improved throughout the race and enters the final day with momentum on his side.