Luke Tuckwell, left, on his way to Rás Mumhan victory in the 2024 and, right, in his yellow jersey today at Tour Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes (Photos: Caroline Kerley and Gaëtan Flamme)
Just over two years ago, a then 19-year-old Australian, Luke Tuckwell, came to the Rás Mumhan stage race in Co Kerry and claimed overall victory, riding for Trinity Racing.
Now a Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider, he has just seized the yellow jersey at one of the biggest stage races in the world, Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (2.UWT), formerly Critérium du Dauphiné.
"I was there, and I was suffering, so I saw this as a good opportunity to break across. So, yeah... 60 guys, it was the perfect opportunity for teams and riders, and we just smashed it all day," he said after the fiinsh.
"I knew pretty quickly that I was the closest on GC in that group, and that I was only a minute down. But I tried to not think about it and spend too much energy thinking about it, until we got to this really long valley and they just absolutely ripped it.
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"The gap went from two to a half to three and three and half, and then I started to think about it. But it wasn't until we got to the final climb with four minutes, and I said, 'right, now I just do a time trial from the bottom to the top'."
Having started today's stage 6 in 12th place, some 1:03 down on race leader Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Tuckwell got himself into a breakaway that numbered 60 riders. It went clear shortly after the start of the 182km stage to Crest-Voland.
He was best placed overall in that group, though a couple of others were very close to him. And when the breakaway's advantage went out to almost five minutes, it was game on for Tuckwell.
As the leaders neared the finish, the lead group - almost half the peloton at one point - had been trimmed right back. And on the final climb to the line - 6km at almost eight per cent gradient - just three were at the head of the race.
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In the first phase of today's stage the breakaway numbered 60 riders, almost half the field (Photo: Gaëtan Flamme)
Tuckwell was there with his team mate, Maxim Van Gils, along with Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility). Tuckwell rode on the front, until the final few hundred metres, where Van Giles beat Halland Johannessen in the sprint to win the stage.
Tuckwell was 3rd, at six seconds, and took the yellow jersey by a handsome margin, of 1:12 over fellow breakaway man Bruno Armirail (Visma | Lease a Bike). Another rider in the large front group today, Guillaume Martin (Groupama-FDJ United), is 3rd at 2:00.
Behind the breakaway today, Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) eventually attacked the peloton in pursuit of those ahead, though he left it late; not making his move until the final climb.
Only Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) could match him and on the line del Toro was 20th and Seixas was 21st. But they left it so late to attack they made very little headway on the leaders, trailing in 3:15 down on stage winner Van Gils.
Of the Irish today, after placing 12th and 18th in the past two days, Dillon Corkery (Picnic PostNL) was 120th today, at 27:06. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) was 128th at 34:05.
Now that Healy's team mate, Baudin, has lost the yellow jersey, the Irishman will get a chance to attack over the last two stages of the race this weekend, if he has the legs.
Tomorrow's stage 7 finishes at the summit of the Grand Colombier - some 8.5km averaging 10 per cent, which should really suit Healy. Sunday's final stage finishes atop the Plateau de Solaison-Brison climb.
