In the absence of Belgian cycling star Wout van Aert, Maxim Van Gils won the sixth stage of the Tour Auvergne Rhone-Alpes.
The Belgian from the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team prevailed on Friday ahead of the Norwegian Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X-Mobility) and the Australian Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora hansgrohe).
Tuckwell took over the yellow jersey from the overall leader in the follow-up race of the Critérium du Dauphiné. He is 1:12 minutes ahead of the Frenchman Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 2:00 minutes ahead of his compatriot Guillaume Martin Guyonnet (Groupaa-FDJ). There are still two mountain finishes on the program until Sunday.
Van Aert won the stage in a sprint on Thursday, but then withdrew from the dress rehearsal for the Tour de France. The Paris-Roubaix winner continues to complain about pain from an elbow injury.
Van Aert will travel to his homeland for further investigations, it said. The all-rounder is one of the most important helpers of the two-time overall tour winner Jonas Vingegaard on the Tour of France (July 4th to 26th).