Sunday’s final stage of the rebranded Critérium du Dauphiné, France’s Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, had the same result as the penultimate day, with Isaac del Toro raising his arms at the line, Juan Ayuso second and Tobias Halland Johannessen third. Del Toro plucked the yellow and blue leader’s jersey from Luke Tuckwell, adding Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes to his UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico all-around victories. He is the first Mexican champion of Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Del Toro and Jonas Vingegaard have both won three UCI WorldTour stage races this year. Jay Vine, Tadej Pogacar and Paul Seixas have won the other three.
Preliminaries
Tuckwell lost a lot of his lead on Saturday, and he sat 42 seconds ahead of Matteo Jorgenson, and 49 seconds faster than Isaac del Toro, who has proven to be the best climber in the race. Ayuso was +1:06. Seixas’ Saturday crash had him at +1:59.
The Course
The pattern was Cat. 1, HC, Cat. 1, HC crammed into 125 km. Both HC’s, Montée de Bisanne and Plateau de Solaison–Brison, were 11.5 km long, with summit finish Plateau de Solaison-Brison slightly steeper at 8.9 percent. This climb will also feature in the Tour de France.
Cat. 1 Col du Pré was right out of the gate, and a small breakaway featuring KOM leader Clément Braz Afonso scooted away on its slopes, Braz Afonso securing the points on top 2:00 ahead of the peloton. Fourteenth-place Kévin Vauquelin, who embodies Netcompany-Ineos’s misfortunes in the race, decided to bridge over to the break and join two teammates. On the descent, Seixas couldn’t keep up.
The yellow jersey group moved closer to the break on HC beast Montée de Bisanne, UAE-Emirates setting the pace. It was there that sixth-place Seixas packed it in. He has 20 days to recover and prepare for the Tour de France.
Braz Afonso wrapped up the white-dots-on-light-blue jersey atop Bissane, his group having pulled out more of a lead. The penultimate climb of the 78th edition was Cat. 1 Col des Aravis. With Ayuso’s Lidl-Trek driving the field, the gap shrank. And so the race steamed towards its concluding 11.5 kilometres.
Plateau de Solaison-Brison
The fugitives’ lead was 48 seconds when the climb began. UAE-Emirates powered the greatly-reduced peloton. Tuckwell couldn’t hold the pace with 9.3 km to go. Del Toro attacked when the last fugitives were in sight. Del Toro was solo with 8 km to race.
Jorgenson and Ayuso were del Toro’s closest chasers, the latter hoping to scoop Tuckwell’s podium spot. Ayuso lit out after it on his own. Jorgenson started to falter and it would be the American’s podium place Ayuso would nick, Tuckwell the runner-up of the 78th edition.
The next WorldTour stage race is the Tour de Suisse, a five-day competition that starts on Wednesday, June 17.
2026 Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Stage 8
1) Isaac del Toro (Mexico/UAE-Emirates) 3:35:07
2) Juan Ayuso (Spain/Lidl-Trek) +1:00
3) Tobias Halland Johannessen (Norway/Uno-X) +1:02
2026 Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Final GC
1) Isaac del Toro (Mexico/UAE-Emirates) 29:35:05:49
2) Luke Tuckwell (Australia/Red Bull) +0:59
3) Juan Ayuso (Spain/Lidl-Trek) +1:17