Van Gils wins summit finish as teammate Tuckwell takes yellow

Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) sprinted to victory from a select group on Friday's mountainous stage 6 of the Tour Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes 2026. The Belgian timed his final effort perfectly to overhaul Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) in the final metres of the tough summit finish.

Behind the stage battle, Van Gils's teammate Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) finished third, a performance that saw the 21-year-old move into the yellow jersey as the new overall race leader. The duo were part of a huge early breakaway that gained enough time to completely reshape the general classification, with previous leader Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) dropped on the final climb.

The 155 km stage into the high mountains was defined by an enormous 60-rider breakaway that escaped early and built a lead of over four minutes. With several GC threats in the move, including the eventual new leader Luke Tuckwell, the peloton was put under immense pressure by the scale and quality of the group up the road.

As the race hit the final two climbs, the large front group began to splinter. On the final ascent, with under 5 km remaining, Van Gils launched a powerful attack that immediately distanced most of his rivals. Only Johannessen could follow initially, before Tuckwell and Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) managed to bridge across to form a new leading quartet.

Further down the mountain, the main contenders' group also exploded, with yellow jersey Alex Baudin dropped, ensuring a change of leadership. Up front, the leading four worked together until the final kilometre, where Tuckwell provided a textbook lead-out for Van Gils. Johannessen launched his sprint first, but Van Gils came around him in the closing metres to secure the victory.

• Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe executed a perfect tactical day. Placing two strong riders in the massive breakaway allowed them to play for both the stage win with Maxim Van Gils and the yellow jersey with Luke Tuckwell, a double reward for their aggression.
• The general classification has been completely reset. With Tuckwell now in yellow and the pre-race favourites finishing over three minutes behind, the final two stages will be a fascinating battle between a young rider defending and established names trying to claw back significant time.
• Tobias Halland Johannessen's wait for a win continues, but his performance confirms his climbing prowess. He was the only rider able to immediately follow Van Gils's decisive attack, but being forced to open the sprint from the front ultimately cost him the stage.
• The sheer size of the breakaway made it impossible for any single team in the peloton to control. The collective failure of the GC teams to place a rider in the move or organise a cohesive chase has cost them dearly and opened the door for an outsider to win the overall.