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Van Gils claims Auvergne Tour stage as Tuckwell moves into overall lead / Photo: © AFP
Van Gils claims Auvergne Tour stage as Tuckwell moves into overall lead
Belgian Maxim Van Gils won the mountainous sixth stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes on Friday as his Australian teammate Luke Tuckwell finished third and took the leader's yellow and blue jersey.
The Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe pair emerged from a 60-man breakaway on the final steep climb to the finish in Crest Voland alongside Norwegian Tobias Johannessen.
Tuckwell, 21, pushed the pace, knowing that he would take the leader's jersey, while Van Gils pipped Johannessen in the sprint finish to claim the stage honours at the end of a 182km slog from Saint Vulbas in southeastern France.
Behind the stage winner, teenage French prodigy Paul Seixas and Mexican Isaac Del Toro gained time on their most dangerous rivals in the overall standings.
They came home in 20th and 21st places, 3min 15sec after the stage winner, with Seixas, 19, moving up to seventh overall, 3:06 behind Tuckwell.
Del Toro, 22, climbed to 10th at 3:22.
American Matteo Jorgenson lost 13sec to the two young favourites for the final victory, but is the best-placed of the overall contenders at 2:34 in fourth.
Lidl-Trek pair Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose lost 22sec to Seixas and Del Toro but sit between them in eighth and ninth overall.
It was a terrible day for Netcompany-Ineos pair Oscar Onley and Kevin Vauquelin
Onley crashed on the short descent between the day's final two climbs and fell completely out of contention, while Vauquelin gave up 1:32 to Seixas and Del Toro as he finished alongside Alex Baudin, who had started the day in the yellow and blue jersey.
The French pair fell to 14th and 15th overall.
V.Lipinski--GL
