'I think it's still not my best', Del Toro deflects Tour de France talk after sealing overall victory

'I think it's still not my best', Del Toro deflects Tour de France talk after sealing overall victory

Isaac Del Toro, Luke Tuckwell and Juan Ayuso delivered a podium aged 22, 21 and 23 respectively, then each framed the race as preparation rather than prediction for July.

By Peter Stuart · · 4 min read

Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) won the final stage at Plateau de Solaison on Sunday and took the overall classification at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, finishing 54 seconds ahead of Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and 1:17 clear of Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek). It was Del Toro's first yellow jersey as a professional and the first overall victory for a Mexican rider in the race's history.

The 22-year-old attacked on the final climb after seeing Pablo Torres push the pace early, then held his advantage over the closing six kilometres despite a moment of concern when his sport director told him how far remained. Speaking to Cycling Pro Net after the stage, Del Toro was direct about his intentions: "I don't want to show nothing. I just want to try to win the GC and that's it."

Asked whether the performance represented his best climbing form, Del Toro said: "I think it's still not." He was cautious about what that meant for his Tour de France debut, 20 days away. "I don't want to push super hard in my mind and I just want to go a little bit more with the flow and see how the things are for the Tour de France," he said. When pressed on whether the result positioned him for overall leadership in July, a question likely meant in jest, he shut it down: "No, no, no. Nothing about this."

Results

Jun 14

Velora
PosRiderTeamTime
🥇
Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG3:35:07
🥈
Juan Ayuso Pesquera
LIDL-TREK+1:00
🥉
Tobias Halland Johannessen
UNO-X MOBILITY+1:02
4
Mattias Skjelmose Jennow Jensen
LIDL-TREK+1:31
5
Cristian Rodriguez Martin
XDS ASTANA TEAM+1:31
6
Carlos Rodriguez Cano
NETCOMPANY INEOS+1:36
7
Maxim van Gils
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+1:43
8
Luke Tuckwell
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+1:43
9
Cian Uijtdebroeks
MOVISTAR TEAM+1:43
10
Matteo Jorgenson
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+1:43
11
George Bennett
NSN CYCLING TEAM+2:49
12
Ramses Debruyne
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+3:01
13
Jan Castellon Ribalta
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+3:18
14
Valentin Paret Peintre
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+3:44
15
Jose Felix Parra Cuerda
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+4:12
16
Guillaume Martin Guyonnet
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+4:12
17
Lars Craps
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+4:34
18
Bruno Armirail
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+4:34
19
Clément Berthet
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+4:44
20
Ben Tulett
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+4:44
21
Jordan Jegat
TOTALENERGIES+5:15
22
Raul Garcia Pierna
MOVISTAR TEAM+5:40
23
Kevin Vermaerke
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+6:10
24
Lennart Jasch
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+6:14
25
Robbe Dhondt
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+6:14
26
Alex Baudin
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+6:20
27
Georg Steinhauser
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+6:20
28
Felix Engelhardt
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+6:32
29
Clément Braz Afonso
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+6:43
30
Nicolas Prodhomme
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+7:02
31
Kévin Vauquelin
NETCOMPANY INEOS+7:13
32
Pablo Torres Arias
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+8:50
33
Simone Velasco
XDS ASTANA TEAM+9:33
34
Torstein Træen
UNO-X MOBILITY+9:38
35
Yannis Voisard
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+10:20
36
Laurens de Plus
NETCOMPANY INEOS+10:58
37
Michael Gogl
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+11:16
38
Robin Donzé
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+11:20
39
Mathieu Burgaudeau
TOTALENERGIES+11:20
40
Aurélien Paret Peintre
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+11:51
41
Carlos Verona Quintanilla
LIDL-TREK+13:00
42
Roland Thalmann
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+13:00
43
Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue
XDS ASTANA TEAM+13:07
44
Pavel Sivakov
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+13:42
45
Maxime Decomble
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+15:25
46
Quentin Pacher
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+15:25
47
Dorian Godon
NETCOMPANY INEOS+16:34
48
Quinn Simmons
LIDL-TREK+16:34
49
Sean Quinn
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+16:34
50
Léo Bisiaux
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+16:42
51
Nicolas Breuillard
TOTALENERGIES+16:47
52
Hugo Houle
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+18:07
53
Georg Zimmermann
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+18:18
54
Sam Maisonobe
COFIDIS+18:32
55
Benjamin Thomas
COFIDIS+20:47
56
Baptiste Veistroffer
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+20:50
57
Pello Bilbao Lopez de Armentia
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+23:12
58
Michel Heßmann
MOVISTAR TEAM+23:27
59
Geoffrey Bouchard
TOTALENERGIES+23:42
60
Mathis le Berre
TOTALENERGIES+23:42
61
Martin Bugge
UNO-X MOBILITY+23:42
62
Matteo Vercher
TOTALENERGIES+23:42
63
Thibault Guernalec
TOTALENERGIES+23:42
64
James Alexander Knox
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+23:42
65
Max Walker
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+24:33
66
Gianni Vermeersch
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+25:05
67
Benoit Cosnefroy
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+25:10
68
Joan Bou Company
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+25:53
69
Nadav Raisberg
NSN CYCLING TEAM+25:57
70
Sergio Samitier Samitier
COFIDIS+26:03
71
Julien Bernard
LIDL-TREK+26:41
72
Toms Skujins
LIDL-TREK+26:41
73
Lennard Kämna
LIDL-TREK+26:41
74
Anthon Charmig
UNO-X MOBILITY+26:41
75
Anders Skaarseth
UNO-X MOBILITY+26:41
76
Vlad van Mechelen
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+27:29
77
Martin Svrček
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+28:18
78
Sergi Darder Gari
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+28:24
79
Nikias Arndt
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+28:53
80
Henri François Renard Haquin
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+29:36
81
Bryan Coquard
COFIDIS+30:01
82
Jacob Eriksson
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+30:15
83
Alex Diaz Alvarez
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+31:09
84
Rudy Molard
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+31:22
85
Edoardo Affini
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+32:32
86
Luke Durbridge
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+32:32
87
Jasha Sütterlin
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+32:32
88
Vito Braet
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+32:32
89
Matthew Fox
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+32:42
90
Ethan Edward Hayter
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+32:55
91
Matteo Trentin
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+33:18

What the podium said about July

Tuckwell, 21, had entered the final stage near the top of the general classification and rode to protect his position as Del Toro went clear. "I knew I had a minute to use," he said. "I wasn't too concerned about keeping the lead because I knew Isaac was so strong, so I was just trying to focus on trying to get the best GC result I could. To only lose one spot, man, that's pretty incredible."

The Australian credited teammate Maxim Van Gils for keeping him in contention and described his progress as simple and free of structured altitude blocks. "I keep improving race on race without doing anything special," Tuckwell said. "No altitude camps, just being at home in a good mental space. And I think that's making the difference."

Ayuso, who moved up to third after distancing Matteo Jorgenson on the final stage, was emphatic about his Lidl-Trek squad's collective strength. He described teammates getting dropped early in a hard opening before fighting back to work for him on the climbs. "I think we were the strongest team," he said. "We controlled everything." On Del Toro's attack, he was blunt: "He was on another level today and we have to just accept it."

Ayuso framed the week as a building block. "Preparation was a bit more difficult than what I would have hoped for," he said. "Finishing on the podium and feeling like every day I improved and every day I was getting better, I'm happy and I hope I can recover well from this and be ready for next month."

Further down the classification, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar Team) described a week disrupted by illness, first lung symptoms and flu, then stomach problems, before recovering to race well on the final two stages. "I think for now I am where I want to be and now it's about making the small steps towards the tour," he said, adding that his team was "super strong around me."

Carlos Rodríguez (Netcompany Ineos), whose squad had lost riders to crashes earlier in the week, said the final day was "all about the attitude" and that his body was "finally starting to respond." He said the team would keep working to arrive at the Tour "in the best shape possible."

The Tour de France begins on July 4 in Barcelona.

Cover image credit: Gaetan Flamme

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Peter

Peter Stuart

Editor

Peter is the editor of Velora and oversees Velora’s editorial strategy and content standards, bringing nearly 20 years of cycling journalism to the site. He was editor of Cyclingnews from 2022, introducing its digital membership strategy and expanding its content pillars. Before that he was digital editor at Cyclist and then Rouleur having joined Cyclist in 2012 after freelance work for titles including The Times and The Telegraph. He has reported from Grand Tours and WorldTour races, and previously represented Great Britain as a rower.