Luke Tuckwell took over the yellow jersey as the overall leader on the sixth stage of the Tour Auvergne Rhône-Alpes – and built himself a comfortable cushion: The Australian from Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe is 1:12 ahead of Frenchman Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 2:00 ahead of Guillaume Martin Guyonnet (Groupama-FDJ).
The stage win on Friday was secured by his Belgian teammate Maxim Van Gils, who had the most strength on the decisive final climb and left Norwegian Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Tuckwell behind. The race, established as the successor to the Critérium du Dauphiné, still has two mountain finishes before Sunday. Overshadowing these success stories is Wout van Aert: The Belgian cycling star had won Thursday’s stage in a sprint but had to abandon the race afterward due to persistent pain from an elbow injury.
Van Aert is heading home for medical evaluation – a significant setback, as the Tour Auvergne Rhône-Alpes is considered a dress rehearsal for the Tour de France (July 4–26), where van Aert is slated to be an indispensable domestique for two-time overall winner Jonas Vingegaard.