Pogacar's key domestique Del Toro secures a prestigious victory at the Tour

On Sunday, Del Toro also won the mountain finish on the Plateau de Solaison at the eight-day stage race—formerly known as the Critérium du Dauphiné—after triumphing on the Grand Colombier the day before. The 22-year-old Mexican crossed the finish line solo after a good 120 km with a one-minute lead over Spaniard Juan Ayuso, thereby edging out Australian Luke Tuckwell from the top of the general classification. Tuckwell finished the French stage race in second place overall, 54 seconds behind.

In the Tour de France, which begins in just under three weeks, Del Toro is slated to be the key climber for four-time champion Tadej Pogacar. He will support his captain “full throttle,” declared last year’s second-place finisher in the Giro d’Italia. Pogacar will compete in his Tour dress rehearsal as the star rider at the Tour de Suisse, which begins next Wednesday with a foreign-start stage in Sondrio in the Valtellina.

French supertalent Paul Seixas was forced to abandon the race on Sunday after suffering a serious crash the previous day on a descent in the French Jura Mountains. Unlike his Swiss teammate Stefan Bissegger, however, he still tackled the final stage. As the top Swiss rider, Yannis Voisard finished 27th in the overall standings, 26 minutes and 22 seconds behind the leader.