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Del Toro also wraps up the white jersey, while Clément Braz Afonso confirms his victory in the mountains classification, and Nadav Raisberg (NSN Pro Cycling) clinches the points classification.
Isaac Del Toro, speaking after the stage:
“I’m super happy about today, I did the recon some months ago, I didn’t know until two days ago that this is the same climb that we do, but it was nice to remember the recon with Tadej, and it’s super cool to have the victory with the team, it’s just insane, we fight for it and it’s just crazy nice. I can’t believe it.
“We planned to have all in order, I know after yesterday everybody started to look at me, Pablo launched me, and I just keep going until the final. Probably if I know it was 8 or 9 kilometres probably I wouldn’t go but it was with the flow and I’m super happy to manage.
“It means a lot to win it after [Tadej] he has a lot of respect by my side and I just want to be as happy as him on the bike and I try to enjoy this. It’s insane.”
When asked about working for Tadej Pogačar at the Tour his answer was simply: “Full gas.”
Luke Tuckwell finishes in second place in the overall classification – an exceptional result for the young Aussie and for his team Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe.
He had this to say after the stage.
“I really from the bottom knew what pace I had to ride, and Maxim saved me there , I think without maxim I would have been struggling so much. It’s just a collective team effort this week. I can’t describe it.
When asked if his achievement had sunk in yet, he said: “No I don’t think I have actually, not at all. I think it will take some time to sink in.
“I keep improving race on race without doing anything special, just enjoying my time at home, no altitude camps, I’ve just been at home in a good mental space and I think that’s making the difference.”
Del Toro finishes the stage exactly a minute ahead of Juan Ayuso, with Tobias Halland Johannessen coming through just two seconds later in third.
Isaac Del Toro wins stage 8 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and takes the overall GC in the process.
An excellent job from Maxim van Gils to stay with his leader Luke Tuckwell – Jorgenson and Uijtdebroeks ride with the Red Bull pair.
1km to go
Del Toro is cheered by the crowds roadside as he heads for his second stage victory. He is in exceptional form ahead of his Tour de France debut, where he will ride in support of Tadej Pogačar.
2km to go
Del Toro is riding his way to victory – his second stage victory on consecutive days, and a second consecutive win in the GC for UAE Team Emirates.
Ayuso is a clear second, 50 second back, and now Tobias Halland Johannessen takes off in pursuit of Ayuso, with Matteo Jorgenson dropped, and sliding back towards the yellow jersey group.
The difference between Del Toro and Ayuso before the stage was 17 seconds – he would have to catch and pass Del Toro to win the race, and currently he sits at 37 seconds behind his former teammate.
Ayuso launches an attack from the chasing group. He quickly distances Jorgenson and the rest of the group.
6.4kms still to climb, and the Ayuso group is now second on the road, 35 seconds behind an imperious-looking Del Toro. The yellow jersey is over a minute behind.
The race is spread all down the lower slopes of the climb, with Del Toro in the solo lead, Rodriguez 12 seconds behind him, and the other GC favourites including Ayuso and Jorgenson 26 seconds behind the Mexican national champion.
The yellow jersey is now 50 seconds behind and Del Toro stands in the virtual lead of the race.
Del Toro distances Rodriguez and he’s 42 seconds ahead of Tuckwell now – as a reminder, he only trails the Australian by 49 seconds in the overall standings.
Maxim van Gils is still with Luke Tuckwell, but he’s dropped rapidly.
Del Toro hits the front of the race. Rodriguez can stay with him, but Paret-Peintre drops.
With 8.8 kilometres to go, Isaac Del Toro attacks solo. He quickly bridges to Paret-Peintre and Rodriguez.
UAE are really doing some damage to this GC group, which is steadily diminishing in number. Movistar’s Cian Uijtdebroeks is dropped.
Braz Afonso and Tejada are caught from the early break.
Now, the race leader Luke Tuckwell is distanced at the back of the main group.
10km to go
UAE set a strong pace at the front of the GC group, and look an ominous presence with three riders still present in support of Del Toro.
The gap is down to 30 seconds.
Simmons’ work is done for the day.
At the front of the race, Valentin Paret-Peintre moves clear of the breakaway group solo.
Pavel Sivakov immediately opens up a small gap at the front of the GC group, with Quinn Simmons tailing him.
UAE Team Emirates are immediately on the offensive.
The climbing is underway.
The final climb, the Plateau de Solaison, begins in 1 kilometre.
15km to go
With less than 4 kilometres to the start of the climb, here’s a quick recap of the race situation.
Currently a breakaway group of 8 riders – including three from Netcompany-Ineos – lead the race, 40 seconds ahead of the small GC bunch, which is being driven by Lidl-Trek on behalf of Juan Ayuso.
Ayuso sits 4th on GC, just over a minute behind Luke Tuckwell, with Matteo Jorgenson in 2nd on 0:42 and Isaac Del Toro, yesterday’s stage win, in 3rd place, 0:49 behind.
20km to go
There are 8 kilometres to go until the final climb of the race. The gap has come down slightly to 37 seconds.
With the overall victory still up for grabs, expect fireworks once the race begins climbing for the final time. How long can Luke Tuckwell hang on to the race favourites?
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The bunch is making steady progress along a flat section that precedes the final short downhill section, which then leads to one more flat section in the valley before the road kicks up and they begin the final climb.
Quinn Simmons is currently on duty at the front of the peloton for Lidl-Trek. There are only around 35 riders left in the main bunch.
Today’s ascent of the Plateau de Solaison serves as a dress rehearsal for stage 15 of this year’s Tour de France, where the climb will once again be used as a summit finish.
As for the climb itself, it measures 11.5 kilometres in length, ith an average gradient of 8.9%. The climb begins with the steepest gradients, with pitches of over 11% for three of the first four kilometres.
35km to go
The descent is long and relatively shallow, and the gap between the leaders and the peloton holds at around 45 seconds.
40km to go
Lidl-Trek, UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease A Bike are all prominent at the front of the bunch, all ready to take on the young Australian Luke Tuckwell, who leads the race somewhat unexpectedly, for Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe.
The race is on the final descent of the stage, heading towards the Plateau de Solaison. It’s here that the race will be decided, the GC going right down to the wire in what has been a fascinating week of racing.
De Plus works at the front of the breakaway for his teammates – Netcompany are the only team with more than one rider represented in the lead group.
The break approaches the summit of the penultimate climb, where the wind is high despite the sunny conditions.
The peloton are hunting down the breakaway – with 1.5 kilometres still to climb on the Col des Aravis, the gap has fallen to just 40 seconds.
50km to go
The gap is down to just 1:00 as the riders work their way up the Col des Aravis – they are currently around halfway up the climb.
A reminder of the day’s main news: Paul Seixas has abandoned the race on the final stage, following yesterday’s crash. Read more here.
Lidl-Trek are making an impact on the gap, driving the bunch in service of Juan Ayuso. The gap falls to 1:30 with two climbs remaining.
The breakaway have begun climbing once again.
The leaders approach the penultimate climb of the race. The Col des Aravis is 7km long, and with an average gradient of 6.8% it is classified as a cat 1 ascent.
55km to go
Two minutes stand between the break and the peloton, with Pello Bilbao still engaged in a chasse-patate at 1:30.
The breakaway rider who is currently ranked highest on GC is Léo Bisiaux, at 4:40 behind race leader Luke Tuckwell.
The gap currently stands at 2:25 to the peloton.
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70km to go
The riders are on the long descent from Montée de Bisanne. Bouchard has been swept up by the peloton who have dropped to 2:40 behind the lead group of six. Vauquelin and Bisiaux are 25 seconds adrift of the front of the race, while Bilbao labours alone in no-man’s-land at 1:40.
Clément Braz Afonso wins the KOM sprint and with that, he seals the victory in the mountains classification, as long as he completes the race.
Bouchard and Bisiaux are completely dropped from the break – Vauquelin labours on, trying to regain contact with the front of the race.
As the race approaches the summit of the Montée de Bisanne, there are several splits, with a lead group of six ten seconds ahead of Vauquelin and Bisiaux, Bouchard another 30 seconds behind, and Bilbao 40 seconds behind that.
The peloton is 1:35 behind the leaders.
Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) abandons the race.
Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) has attacked from the peloton.
The break has split on the slopes of the climb, with Vauquelin, Bisiaux and Bouchard dropped. The lead group has stretched its lead back out to 1:30.
Paul Seixas abandons the race.
After crashing yesterday, and working incredibly hard to make it back, the effort and injuries have proven too much for the 19-year-old and he steps off the race.
Bouchard has managed to make it back to the break, which now numbers nine riders. But their advantage is tumbling on the lower slopes of the climb, held in check by the GC teams who will not want to leave anything to chance today.
As they begin the climb, the breakaway’s lead has been pegged back to 1:25.
90km to go
Lidl-Trek were pulling in the peloton earlier on, now UAE Team Emirates take over the responsibility on behalf of Isaac Del Toro, with Benoît Cosnefroy currently setting the pace.
With an hour of racing complete, the breakaway is about to begin the Montée de Bisanne climb.
The break of the day at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Their lead holds at around 1:45.
95km to go
The peloton are hurtling down the descent towards the second climb of the day, the HC rated Montée de Bisanne. It’s an ascent of 11.5 kilometres, with an average gradient of 8.6%.
Vauquelin has bridged to Bouchard, and has nearly made it across to the breakaway.
The lead group has built their lead to 1:55 over the peloton.
Seixas is now around 25 seconds behind the main bunch.
Bad news for Decathlon CMA CGM as Paul Seixas is dropped from the peloton.
The race has been wide open so far, with stages won by six different teams. There have been only two wearers of the yellow leader’s jersey thus far, however – EF Education-EasyPost’s Alex Baudin took the jersey following his stage 1 victory and hung onto it all the way through stage 6.
Since then, Red Bull’s young Australian Luke Tuckwell has led the race. The young rider has proven his ability as a GC rider at U23 level, finishing second in the Giro Next Gen last year. However, he has not yet won a race at senior level, and it will be a huge test for him and his team to hang on to the lead this afternoon.
The race heads up a short uncategorised climb, and Bouchard is now struggling to hang on to the leaders.
Bouchard makes it across to join the lead group. Next to try to bridge across is Kévin Vauquelin – if he makes it, Netcompany Ineos will have a trio of riders at the front of the race.
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With two minutes separating the current race leader Luke Tuckwell from Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) in 7th place, the final battle for the overall classification victory is wide open today. We saw yesterday that Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) had the legs to compete, but with Isaac Del Toro’s current form, he looks the favourite to take the win.
As for the rest of the contenders, what has Paul Seixas got left after suffering a crash yesterday? And can Visma-Lease a Bike keep Matteo Jorgenson in contention? Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno X Mobility) propelled himself up to 5th place yesterday, so he too will be going for the highest possible placement on the final climbs of the race.
More attacks come from the peloton as the lead group crests the summit and heads onto the descent. Geoffrey Bouchard of TotalEnergies is one of the chasers.
Approaching the top of the Col du Pré the breakaway haven’t been able to establish themselves a clear lead – they nurse a slender 15 second gap over the chasing bunch.
110km to go
After ten kilometres, a group of seven riders currently have a narrow ten-second lead over the rest of the bunch – Braz Afonso, Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Laurens de Plus and Carlos Rodriguez (Netcompany Ineos), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep).
Decathlon sports director Luke Rowe ‘super proud’ of the way his team handled adversity on stage 7.
It was a difficult day for Decathlon CMA CGM and their leader Paul Seixas yesterday.
The young Frenchman crashed early in the race and his team worked all day to close a four-minute gap back to the GC favourites. Seixas was left bleeding but managed to complete the stage after a herculean effort. He currently sits in 6th place on GC, 1:54 adrift of the leader Tuckwell.
A group of seven riders has attacked from the peloton as the race heads for the Col du Pré. The group includes the leader in the king of the mountains competition, Clement Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United).
Just 99 riders remain in the peloton after a week beset with illness and injury, leading to a high number of early withdrawals.
A further seven riders have left the race prior to today’s stage.
The race is officially underway.
The week has seen a real mix of results, with four stages going to the breakaway, one sprint finish, a team time trial win for Visma-Lease a Bike, and the first of the GC riders coming to the fore on yesterday’s stage, in the shape of Isaac Del Toro of UAE Team Emirates, who took his first WorldTour victory on French soil, and climbed into third place on GC.
The peloton tackle four climbs along today’s route. The route heads uphill immediately on the category 1 rated Col du Pré. The Montée de Bisanne and Col des Aravis follow, before a summit finish on the Plateau de Solaison, where the final GC battle will play out, following a fascinating week of racing.
Welcome to live coverage of the final stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. A decisive final mountain stage which may be relatively short in terms of distance at just 120 kilometres, but which packs in over 4,000m of altitude gain.
The GC hangs in the balance, with Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe’s Luke Tuckwell defending the yellow jersey, with a lead of 42 seconds over Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) in second.