“I have the best legs of my life" - Van Gils credits altitude training with Evenepoel for brilliant Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes victory

Maxim Van Gils may have suffered while altitude training with Remco Evenepoel before the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, but he's certainly got his reward after a brilliant stage 6 victory on Friday.

The Belgian, who returned at the stage race after almost four months injured, was the strongest from an incredible 60-rider breakaway, beating an array of climbers, rouleurs, and riders hunting the yellow jersey on double-climb finish.

With Red Bull - BORA Hansgrohe taking the initiative in the finale, the team knew they had a chance to put Luke Tuckwell in yellow while also balancing the potential for a stage win. With six kilometers to go, Georg Steinhauser's attack offered the chance for Van Gils to bridge across.

After being joined by Tobias Johannessen and later Pablo Torres, Tuckwell made his move from the rest in chase to put the German team in pole position. With yellow sealed for Tuckwell, Van Gils edged around Johannessen in the final meters to claim victory.

His eighth career win, the 26-year-old was over the moon at the finish, particularly after his Classica Jaen fall saw him suffer a nasty broken pelvis. He's delighted to seal his return with a win.

“I have the best legs of my life,” he said in an interview after the stage. "It is one of the most beautiful days of my career."

He added: “Everyone saw that fall, but I stayed positive and kept working hard. My girlfriend is from this region and we rode on a lot of training roads. So it is wonderful that I was able to finish it off.”

Van gils lost time earlier in the week with Friday's stage in mind and praised his teammates for their support.

“It was a crazy day,” he added. “We had been talking about it within the team for several days. I already lost six minutes in a sprint stage this week to join in here, and in the end, four guys from the team were in it. Gianni Vermeersch was really super strong, and that makes this a real team effort. It’s great to win here.”

21-year-old Tuckwell took yellow, a day that Van gils believes should silence questions around the team's perceived lack of a leader at the race - with Evenepoel at altitude training and Florian Lipowitz set to race Tour of Slovenia next week. However, he credited his stint at altitude with teammate Evenepoel as a big factor in the win.

“That makes it a wonderful day. To achieve this… We are here without big leaders. I got some questions about it this morning, but the fact that we win a stage and take the yellow jersey is huge.”

“Before this, I spent 25 days in Sierra Nevada training with Remco Evenepoel . I suffered a lot there, but I’m really flying here. It’s wonderful to be able to win with these legs.”