Crest-Voland (France) (AFP) - Belgian Maxim Van Gils won the mountainous sixth stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes on Friday as his Australian teammate Luke Tuckwell finished third and took the leader’s yellow and blue jersey.

The Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe pair emerged from a 60-man breakaway on the final steep climb to the finish in Crest Voland alongside Norwegian Tobias Johannessen.

“We both knew how strong we both were and the situation just played perfectly,” said Tuckwell, 21, who said he is not thinking about potentially winning this prestigious race when it finishes on Sunday.

“This is my first year as a pro, I just need to enjoy it to be honest. I came into this race not looking to get any results and just have fun.”

Tuckwell pushed the pace, knowing that he would take the leader’s jersey, while Van Gils pipped Johannessen in the sprint finish to claim the stage honours at the end of a 182km slog from Saint Vulbas in southeastern France.

“It’s one of the most beautiful days in my career,” said Van Gils. “To win here in the (Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes) and in a region I really love –- my girlfriend is from here -– today we passed a lot of my training roads, so I’m really happy about it.”

He added: “We were without a big leader… but to win a stage and take yellow I think is really big.”

Behind the stage winner, teenage French prodigy Paul Seixas and Mexican Isaac Del Toro gained time on their most dangerous rivals in the overall standings.

They came home in 20th and 21st, 3min 15sec after the stage winner, with Seixas, 19, moving up to seventh overall, 3:06 behind Tuckwell.

Del Toro, 22, climbed to 10th at 3:22.

American Matteo Jorgenson lost 13sec to the two young favourites for the final victory, but is the best-placed of the overall contenders at 2:34 in fourth.

Lidl-Trek pair Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose lost 22sec to Seixas and Del Toro but sit between them in eighth and ninth overall.

- ‘A bit of chaos’ -

French duo Bruno Armirail and Guillaume Martin, who were part of the breakaway and finished just over a minute behind Van Gils, moved up to second and third respectively.

It was a terrible day for Netcompany Ineos teammates Oscar Onley and Josh Tarling.

Onley, 23, crashed on the short descent between the day’s final two climbs.

“The downhill was really tricky. I really hope Oscar Onley is OK. I saw him go over the edge, and that kind of spooked me a little bit,” said Jorgenson.

Ineos later announced that Onley “sustained a dislocated shoulder and leg wounds and will be unable to start stage 7 tomorrow”.

The team added that Onley’s fellow Briton Tarling, who also crashed, “suffered a fractured clavicle”.

A third Ineos rider Kevin Vauquelin gave up 1:32 to Seixas and Del Toro as he finished alongside Alex Baudin, who had started the day in the yellow and blue jersey.

The huge breakaway group of 60 riders built up a lead of five minutes at the foot of the two final climbs, at which point it was clear that the stage winner and the new overall leader would come from the breakaway.

The overall contenders only sprung to life on the final climb when Seixas accelerated about 4km from the line.

Del Toro and Jorgenson were the only ones able to follow initially but the American cracked with just over 2km to go.

Del Toro stuck doggedly to Seixas’s wheel.

“The breakaway created a bit of chaos, we were all caught out a little bit,” said Seixas.

“Three minutes to Tuckwell, that’s a bit annoying,” he added.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to have to make it tough because when we don’t make it tough, there are breakaways and guys (dangerous rivals) who try to get in it. We’re going to have to control it.”

Saturday and Sunday’s stages are shorter at 133km and 120km but are brutal mountain routes with long and punishing climbs and summit finishes at an altitude of more than 1,500 metres.