Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes stage 8 LIVE - Tuckwell leads heading into decisive final mountain test

The break has split on the slopes of the climb, with Vauquelin, Bisiaux and Bouchard dropped. The lead group has stretched its lead back out to 1:30.

Paul Seixas abandons the race.

After crashing yesterday, and working incredibly hard to make it back, the effort and injuries have proven too much for the 19-year-old and he steps off the race.

Bouchard has managed to make it back to the break, which now numbers nine riders. But their advantage is tumbling on the lower slopes of the climb, held in check by the GC teams who will not want to leave anything to chance today.

As they begin the climb, the breakaway's lead has been pegged back to 1:25.

90km to go

Lidl-Trek were pulling in the peloton earlier on, now UAE Team Emirates take over the responsibility on behalf of Isaac Del Toro, with Benoît Cosnefroy currently setting the pace.

With an hour of racing complete, the breakaway is about to begin the Montée de Bisanne climb.

The break of the day at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Their lead holds at around 1:45.

95km to go

The peloton are hurtling down the descent towards the second climb of the day, the HC rated Montée de Bisanne. It's an ascent of 11.5 kilometres, with an average gradient of 8.6%.

Vauquelin has bridged to Bouchard, and has nearly made it across to the breakaway.

The lead group has built their lead to 1:55 over the peloton.

Seixas is now around 25 seconds behind the main bunch.

Bad news for Decathlon CMA CGM as Paul Seixas is dropped from the peloton.

The race has been wide open so far, with stages won by six different teams. There have been only two wearers of the yellow leader's jersey thus far, however - EF Education-EasyPost's Alex Baudin took the jersey following his stage 1 victory and hung onto it all the way through stage 6.

Since then, Red Bull's young Australian Luke Tuckwell has led the race. The young rider has proven his ability as a GC rider at U23 level, finishing second in the Giro Next Gen last year. However, he has not yet won a race at senior level, and it will be a huge test for him and his team to hang on to the lead this afternoon.

The race heads up a short uncategorised climb, and Bouchard is now struggling to hang on to the leaders.

Bouchard makes it across to join the lead group. Next to try to bridge across is Kévin Vauquelin - if he makes it, Netcompany Ineos will have a trio of riders at the front of the race.

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With two minutes separating the current race leader Luke Tuckwell from Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) in 7th place, the final battle for the overall classification victory is wide open today. We saw yesterday that Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) had the legs to compete, but with Isaac Del Toro's current form, he looks the favourite to take the win.

As for the rest of the contenders, what has Paul Seixas got left after suffering a crash yesterday? And can Visma-Lease a Bike keep Matteo Jorgenson in contention? Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno X Mobility) propelled himself up to 5th place yesterday, so he too will be going for the highest possible placement on the final climbs of the race.

More attacks come from the peloton as the lead group crests the summit and heads onto the descent. Geoffrey Bouchard of TotalEnergies is one of the chasers.

Approaching the top of the Col du Pré the breakaway haven't been able to establish themselves a clear lead - they nurse a slender 15 second gap over the chasing bunch.

110km to go

After ten kilometres, a group of seven riders currently have a narrow ten-second lead over the rest of the bunch - Braz Afonso, Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Laurens de Plus and Carlos Rodriguez (Netcompany Ineos), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep).

Decathlon sports director Luke Rowe 'super proud' of the way his team handled adversity on stage 7.

It was a difficult day for Decathlon CMA CGM and their leader Paul Seixas yesterday.

The young Frenchman crashed early in the race and his team worked all day to close a four-minute gap back to the GC favourites. Seixas was left bleeding but managed to complete the stage after a herculean effort. He currently sits in 6th place on GC, 1:54 adrift of the leader Tuckwell.

A group of seven riders has attacked from the peloton as the race heads for the Col du Pré. The group includes the leader in the king of the mountains competition, Clement Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United).

Just 99 riders remain in the peloton after a week beset with illness and injury, leading to a high number of early withdrawals.

A further seven riders have left the race prior to today's stage.

The race is officially underway.

The week has seen a real mix of results, with four stages going to the breakaway, one sprint finish, a team time trial win for Visma-Lease a Bike, and the first of the GC riders coming to the fore on yesterday's stage, in the shape of Isaac Del Toro of UAE Team Emirates, who took his first WorldTour victory on French soil, and climbed into third place on GC.

The peloton tackle four climbs along today's route. The route heads uphill immediately on the category 1 rated Col du Pré. The Montée de Bisanne and Col des Aravis follow, before a summit finish on the Plateau de Solaison, where the final GC battle will play out, following a fascinating week of racing.

Welcome to live coverage of the final stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. A decisive final mountain stage which may be relatively short in terms of distance at just 120 kilometres, but which packs in over 4,000m of altitude gain.

The GC hangs in the balance, with Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe's Luke Tuckwell defending the yellow jersey, with a lead of 42 seconds over Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) in second.