Luke Tuckwell dedicates 'Dauphiné' yellow to sister (19) who died

Luke Tuckwell, third from left in yellow, lining up the start of stage 7 today, Saturday, at Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) said he had special motivation as the road continued to kick up to the finish at Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (2.UWT) on stage 6 and he was feeling the pressure as he rode into yellow.

Last September, the Australian's 19-year-old sister died after battling serious illness for over two years.

"All day I was thinking of my little sister, who died in September last year and, yeah, I really wanted to do it for her today if we got to the final climb with enough time," he said.

"Really, in those last few kilometres I was really suffering but I was really thinking of her. So, yeah, this yellow jersey is in honour of her."

He said back home in Australia - in Bathurst and Orange in New South Wales - everyone around him had supported him in his cycling since he was 8-years-old.

Advertisement

"I hope they've had a nice viewing in Australia at 2am right now, I hope I've done them proud," he said, adding he "didn't quite believe" he had taken the race lead.

Initially, he said the main plan for the team was to gather its efforts around Maxim Van Gils in the hope he could win the stage.

But when a group of 60 riders went clear, and Tuckwell was best-placed overall in that group, they switched to the double objective of aiming for the stage win and the yellow jersey.

In a perfect ending to the stage for the team, Tuckwell and Van Gils got clear on the final climb in a three-man group with Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).

And at the finish, Van Gils outsprinted Halland Johannessen for the stage win, with Tuckwell 3rd at six seconds. The 21-year-old Australian took the yellow jersey by 1:12 from Bruno Armirail (Visma | Lease a Bike).

He said before the start of stage 7 today, Saturday, that he was really looking for to wearing the jersey as the field races towards the summit finish on Grand Colombier.

"It was pretty special, to be honest," he said of yesterday when he took the yellow jersey, with 3rd on the stage, while his team mate, Maxim Van Gils, won the stage.

Related News

"After a great team performance, it's almost like... you really can't ask for anything better really," he added, also saying while today's stage was going to be very difficult, he wanted to keep the race lead.

"The objective is to hopefully be in yellow at the end of the day. I'll give it my all and honour the jersey and it should be a good day."

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Luke Tuckwell (@luke.tuckwell)

 

Related News