Results Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2026 Stage 6 - Van Gils wins from huge breakaway, Tuckwell takes yellow jersey and Seixas attacks GC rivals

The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes delivered a stunning day of racing on stage 6 that provided a breakaway battle, yellow jersey heist and decisive general classification battle. Maxim Van Gils took a stage win from a 60-strong breakaway, Luke Tuckwell moves into yellow while Paul Seixas and Isaac Del Toro put time into all their general classification rivals.

Friday's sixth stage opened the door to the Alps, featuring a transition day with long flat sections and four categorised climbs. After a mostly flat opening 75 kilometers, the bunch faces short category four and category two tests before a descent and a long 50-kilometer valley.

The approach to the finish features a two-punch climbing test primed to open up the general classification fight. Up first was the 11.6 kilometer Côte d'Héry-sur-Ugine , averaging 4.9 percent. A short sharp descent followed by a steeper Cote de Crest-Volland climb to the finish would likely be the battleground. The final six kilometers were set to have an average gradient of roughly 7.5 percent.

The day's big news early on involved non-starters as Wout van Aert, Michael Matthews and Finn Fisher-Black among six riders who did not arrive at the start. Van Aert is set to go to Belgium for further medical examinations of his elbow after crashing in training last week.

A 60-rider breakaway, mainly composed of rouleurs and stage hunters, got up the road in the early stages, pulling out a gap of over two minutes at 2:25 as the race took on the second climb of the day with 90 kilometers to go. Although none of major concern to the overall contenders, some still stood to potentially ride into the yellow jersey - including Luke Tuckwell, Bruno Armirail and Guillaume Martin less than two minutes behind.

No general classification contenders made it into the split, but with every team represented except Decathlon CMA CGM, who went to work to keep the move under control for Paul Seixas. The group of 60 became 59 when Josh Tarling crashed and was forced to abandon the race.

With 70 kilometers to go and a flat run-in to the final 20 kilometers, 55 riders remained at the front after the first two climbs and their gap increased to over three minutes. The gap continued to grow as Decathlon chased and the large breakaway drove on, increasing to almost four minutes with 50 kilometers remaining.

Red Bull - BORA Hansgrohe seemed to be intent on growing the lead, prompting leader Alex Baudin's team, EF Education - EasyPost, to put Ben Healy at the front of the peloton while Sam Watson also assisted in the chase for Netcompany Ineos.

With ten kilometers until the two final climbs, it became clear that the battle would be fought on the uphill, with EF Education - Easypost taking up the duties. However, the gap continued to inflate as the stage reached its business end - climbing to almost 4:45.

With two races forming within one, the breakaway began to split apart on the first climb as over twenty peeled off on the lower slopes. Lidl-Trek and Netcompany Ineos led the peloton into the climb as the race reached its crucial stage.

The breakaway attacks kicked off with 12.5 kilometers to go as Pablo Castrilla tried to get the jump on his rivals, but it was quickly closed down. At this point, it became clear that the peloton behind posed no major danger for the stage as the gap held at close to five minutes.

Valentin Paret-Peintre kicked off peloton hostilities with an attack, followed by Netcompany Ineos' Carlos Rodriguez. Paret-Paintre's attack soon gathered momentum as the move forced Decathlon to set the pace behind as UAE Team Emirates - XRG also came to the forefront for the first time. The change in pace saw the duo swallowed up by the peloton.

22 breakaway riders reached the final climb with 6 kilometers to go as Georg Steinhauser was the first to attack. The EF-Education - Easypost climber was soon caught and dropped by Maxim Van Gils, Tobias Halland Johannessen and Pablo Torres - gaining a gap over the remnants of the break.

Back in the peloton, Decathlon and Seixas turned up the heat as the 19-year-old prepared to attack. The move seemed to be the killer blow for Baudin in yellow as he fought to save the jersey from both the breakaway and his GC rivals. With 4 kilometers to go, Seixas moved to the front.

Only Isaac Del Toro and Matteo Jorgenson could hold his wheel in the initial attack as Lidl-Trek duo Juan Ayuso and Matthias Skjelmose trailed behind, while other contenders such as Kevin Vauquelin were left in their wake as Seixas settled into a rhythm.

With 2.5 kilometers to go, Luke Tuckwell bridged to the breakaway leaders in his pursuit of yellow as the quartet prepared to fight for stage honours. Behind, Seixas led decisisively, not requesting any help from Del Toro and Jorgenson in his wheel. Visma | Lease a Bike's Jorgenson couldn't handle the pace at 3 kilometers to go as Seixas and Del Toro soared away.

At the front, it was double victory for Red Bull as Van Gils bested Johannessen in the sprint after great work form Tuckwell, who sealed the yellow jersey.

Del Toro did come through to assist Seixas with two kilometers to go as the pair worked to extend their gap on their rivals. They came to the line together, finishing 3:15 back on the stage winner.

Jorgenson confirmed after the stage that Oscar Onley crashed on the descent before the climb and was not amongst the favourites in chase during the finale.