Tour Rhone Alpes: Del Toro wins stage 7 & Seixa’s brave ride

 

Stage 7 consisted of pure pain; 133.6kms mountain stage featured six classified climbs and 3,728 metres of elevation gain from La Bridoire to the famous summit up the Grand Colombier. French wonderkid Paul Seixas crashed on a downhill section, 32kms after the start. And, the French star made his way back to the bunch after 65kms of chasing. But he couldn’t keep up with the best on the final ascent of the day.

Juan Ayuso attacked on the climb, before Isaac Del Toro caught him inside the last 2kms and eventually dropped him to take victory. This was Del Toro’s first win on French soil. Paul Seixas lost 1’21”, while Luke Tuckwell dropped 2’33”. The Aussie retains the yellow and blue leader’s jersey 42 seconds over Matteo Jorgenson and 49 seconds over Del Toro. 

“It’s crazy to be in this position sometimes, and when the team starts to help me, it feels super special. You don’t know how special it is to see Mexican fans on the side of the road and have all their support… It’s simply incredible.”

-Isaac del Toro

Seixas drags himself to the line

“I’m not proud of myself, no; I’m proud of my team. They worked 100% for me after my stupidity, which was my fault, and honestly, I made the whole team pay today. I struggled to hold the handlebars, but I did so anyway, and I thought, ‘Never mind the pain, I’m going to give my all until the end for these five guys who sacrificed everything for me, when they could have left me behind, and I would have had no complaints because it’s what I deserved. Just chapeau to them. They can know that I love them all.

Yes, I think I’ll start. We’ll see this evening, but I’m going to fight to the end for my team.”

-Paul Seixas. Sixth place on GC