Dominant Del Toro dethrones Tuckwell on Plateau de Solaison to claim Dauphiné title

Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) won the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes after claiming his second consecutive summit finish victory with a dominant performance on the Plateau de Solaison. 

With the top five in the standings separated by just 1:33 at the start of the stage, headed by surprise leader Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), the battle for the yellow jersey was wide open ahead of a stage featuring over 4,000 metres of elevation gain that would leave nowhere to hide. Del Toro, who started the stage in third, knew he needed to make up 49 seconds on Tuckwell and seven on Jorgenson. 

Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), who started the stage in sixth following his stage 7 crash, was able to take the start in Beaufort. The Frenchman would abandon the race after being dropped on the descent of the Col du Pré early into the stage, but beyond this, the GC action was reserved for the final climb of the race. 

The battleground for the final showdown was the Plateau de Solaison, a climb that the riders will become well acquainted with, as it will host the summit finish on stage 15 of the Tour de France.

The fireworks ignited on the lower slopes of the Plateau de Solaison as UAE Team Emirates-XRG set a vicious tempo. Del Toro attacked with just under 9km remaining, with a speed that nobody could match, as the Mexican Champion sailed off into the distance, not to be seen again until after the finish. 

In the end, Del Toro’s margin of victory in the stage over Ayuso was 1:00 while Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) ended third at 1:02. In terms of the overall standings, Del Toro sealed the title by 0:54 over Tuckwell in second while Ayuso rounded out the podium 1:17 behind the Mexican Champion.

It marks Del Toro’s third WorldTour stage race victory of 2026, adding to triumphs at the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico. The Mexican follows in the footsteps of his teammate João Almeida, who accomplished the feat in 2025 by winning Itzulia Basque Country, the Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse. 

Del Toro also follows in the footsteps of teammate Tadej Pogačar in winning the Dauphiné title. Next up for the 22-year-old will be supporting the World Champion in his bid for a record-equalling fifth Tour title in July, as he makes his own debut in La Grande Boucle.

The stage began with an immediate ascent of the category 1 Col du Pré, where a strong breakaway of nine formed, including Laurens de Plus, Carlos Rodríguez and Kévin Vauquelin (Netcompany-Ineos), Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United) and Geoffrey Bouchard (TotalEnergies).

Despite his best efforts, Seixas abandoned the race after being dropped on the descent of the day’s first climb, the Col du Pré.

The breakaway split on the Montée de Bisanne with Vauquelin, Bisiaux and Bouchard being distanced. Braz Afonso secured enough points to seal the KOM classification, while Bisiaux and Vauquelin returned to the front group following the climb. Meanwhile, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) was dangling ahead of the peloton but unable to catch the break.

The breakaway worked hard on the penultimate climb, the Col des Aravis, but the peloton maintained a tight leash, with the gap under a minute. 

Lidl-Trek set the tempo into the foot of the Plateau de Solaison, as the breakaway held a slender lead of around 45 seconds. 

Paret-Peintre accelerated from the breakaway as the gradients sharpened with 11km remaining, and De Plus, as he had done for much of the stage, led the rest of the group behind, though only the Belgian and his teammate Rodríguez were able to bridge across to the French climber out front. 

UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma | Lease a Bike both signalled their intent, sweeping past Lidl-Trek at the front of the peloton, as the pace increased significantly, and the trapdoor opened. 

De Plus was distanced with 9.6km to go after an excellent job setting his teammate Rodríguez into position. 

However, the pace set by UAE was relentless, and the race leader Tuckwell was distanced with 9.4km remaining, though the Australian had Van Gils in support. 

Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) delivered the final lead-out for Del Toro, who looked calm and composed with Jorgenson on the wheel, as Ayuso sat towards the back of the group that was less than ten riders in size. 

Del Toro launched his emphatic acceleration with just under 9km to no response. The Mexican Champion blasted his way across to the breakaway and quickly dispatched Rodríguez and Paret-Peintre. 

Ben Tulett (Visma | Lease a Bike) set the tempo in the chase that included Jorgenson, Ayuso, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Cristián Rodríguez (XDS Astana), and George Bennett (NSN), though the latter would be distanced a few hundred metres later.

With still over seven kilometres to go, Del Toro had opened up enough of an advantage to put himself into the virtual lead. Now it was all about maintaining his advantage and not going too deep into the red. 

Ayuso attacked from the chasing group with 5.5km remaining, opening an advantage as the rest of the group followed the wheel of Jorgenson, who led the chase. 

With 5km to go, Del Toro had over 40 seconds on Ayuso, with the chasers at almost a minute. Meanwhile, the race leader was digging deep, sitting at just under 1:30 from the soaring Mexican. 

Johannessen jumped from the chasing pack inside the final 2km, as Jorgenson slipped from the group and towards the yellow jersey group, giving the Norwegian the opportunity to move closer to the podium. 

Ayuso battled well, initially maintaining his deficit to Del Toro. However, Del Toro held firm, and over the final 3km, cemented his lead and soloed to an emphatic victory, a perfect statement of intent for the Mexican Champion and his UAE squad ahead of the Tour.