Results Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes stage 7 - Isaac del Toro wins on Grand Colombier; Paul Seixas crashes but survives; Luke Tuckwell remains in yellow after summit finish

Stage 7 of the 2026 Tour-Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes delivered a lot of drama. The main favourite Paul Seixas crashed and made an hours-long recovery of a four-minute gap; Luke Tuckwell survived in the yellow jersey on the brutal ascent to the Grand Colombier; and it was Isaac del Toro who took the win in in the Jura mountains after catching Juan Ayuso who put in a stellar attack on the final climb.

The stage had a very fast start, with plenty climbs on the menu and many attempts to form a strong breakaway. But this included the GC teams, and many neutralized themselves throughout the several ascents. Early in the day, one of the descents was neutralized due to gravel on the road; and right after, disaster struck Decathlon CMA CGM Team.

With 96 kilometers to go, Paul Seixas crashed. The white jersey looked injured, and took several minutes to get back on the bike. The race was thought to at first be over GC-wise, potentially more. However after some teammates caught back to him, a pursuit began.

There were 4 minutes to recover, a gap that seemed impossible. But one by one, every member of the French team worked to close down a gap through climbs, descents and valley roads. There was no massive push against Seixas which allowed for his return, but the fatigue would later on be paid.

Out front a breakaway eventually got formed including Quinn Simmons, Laurens de Plus, Carlos Rodríguez, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Pello Bilbao, Jordan Jegat, George Bennett, Sergio Samitier, Clément Berthet and KOM classification leader Clément Braz Afonso.

But the group would never get much of a gap, as Visma and Lidl pursued behind, with occasional stints in front from UAE Team Emirates - XRG who had Isaac del Toro, but had also lost João Almeida at the start of the day.

All the fireworks were to take place on the final climb. Seixas returned to the peloton with 37 kilometers to go, and the breakaway was caught with 13 to go.

The first half of the final ascent to Grand Colombier featured 12% average gradient, and maximum ramps well above that. Hence, there weren't many tactics at play, and right in the first few minutes of the climb Juan Ayuso hit the front with an attack that saw him distance the field.

The gap became worryingly big for his rivals, growing into 25 seconds whilst behind Ben Tulett led the Matteo Jorgenson group which included Isaac del Toro; whilst Paul Seixas and Luke Tuckwell were dropped together behind.

With 4.5 kilometers to go Del Toro began accelerating from behind, getting a gap on Jorgenson. Eventually, as the climb began losing its gradient, he lost touch with Cian Uijtdebroeks and Tobias Johannessen who followed him as well. Just outside the final kilometer Del Toro caught Ayuso up front, and launched an attack that the Spaniard could not follow.

Behind, Tuckwell struggled to follow Seixas, with big gaps set to be had on the road; and only Mattias Skjelmose could follow the Frenchman behind. Del Toro rode to stage victory, gaining 24 seconds on Juan Ayuso; whilst Tobias Johannessen was third on the day, 38 behind. Matteo Jorgenson finished 41 seconds from the front; Paul Seixas was 1:21 minutes behind, and Luke Tuckwell defended his yellow jersey losing only 2:33 minutes on the day to Del Toro.