'He's going to win the Tour one day' – Isaac del Toro fever grips Mexican fans at the Tour de France
UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider rewards dedicated supporters with stage win in Barcelona
A little boy, at most five years old, is sitting on his father’s shoulders next to the media zone in Barcelona. Ten minutes have passed since Isaac del Toro stood on stage in the Tour de France team presentation, dressed in the Mexican champion’s jersey, beneath the spires of the Sagrada Família. The moment is historic: Del Toro is the first man from his country this century to compete at the race. For the little boy, that makes him a hero.
“Torito!” he cries. The sound is piercing. No sooner have the ears of the people nearby recovered that another cry comes, and another, and another. “Torito!” the boy’s voice tires and quivers, as he waves a UAE Team Emirates-XRG cap. “Una firma!” – a signature.
The frenzy at this year’s Tour was supposed to surround France’s 19-year-old debutant Paul Seixas. And it surely will once the race enters France on Monday. But it’s Del Toro, Mexico’s sweetheart, who has had the most admirers across the opening weekend.
Now, not only is he the first Mexican to start the race since Miguel Arroyo in 1997 – and only the third ever along with Raúl Alcalá – he’s also a stage winner. It took him just two days, and came in a swell of affection on Montjuïc in Barcelona.
“It’s a dream come true,” Del Toro said in his post-race press conference. “It’s super special, especially because [the fans] make me feel like it’s a home race. You cannot believe how special it is to see the flags. I’m a very privileged guy.”
Over the hill by the UAE Team Emirates-XRG team bus, Tadej Pogačar waded through 50 Mexican fans, who serenaded him with a hero’s welcome. He slung a Mexican flag over his shoulders, and danced to the tune of their chanting.
The world champion, second on the day, gifted the stage win to Del Toro. But it was the latter who crafted the perfect finale; charging down a descent, Del Toro whipped around Lidl-Trek’s Mattias Skjelmose and blasted up the 500m hill to the line. Fans Nayeli and Rene watched on in matching Mexico hats around halfway up.
Nayeli and Rene flew in from Mexico to see Del Toro Tour debut.
Impelled by Del Toro fever, the pair flew in specially from Mexico four days ago to support their national champion on his debut. “Yesterday we were at the start of the team time trial for more than five hours with all the Mexicans,” says Nayeli, 36. “We liked cycling before, but Isaac del Toro awoke the passion in us to follow the Tour.”
Like Del Toro, this edition of the race is the pair’s first. It’s also their first time visiting Europe. “We spent €2,500 to get here,” Rene, 39, says. The victory certainly made it worth it. Does he think Del Toro could win the Tour in the future? “Yes, I’m sure of it,” he smiles, “and we’ll be back here to see it.”
Some 100m further up the road, that same view was shared by Adrián, dressed in a Mexico football shirt. He was born in Mexico City, but has lived in Barcelona for three years, one of the around 4,500 Mexicans that live in the wider autonomous community of Catalonia.
“My dad was a cycling fan in the era of Arroyo and Alcalá,” Adrián, 42, says. “For a while, we didn’t really follow it, but now with Isaac we’re back following it again. As a national champion, he’s inspiring so many people to take the same path.”
Adrián believes it's a matter of time before Del Toro wins the Tour.
In an hour's time, Del Toro will tear along the barrier beside Adrián, and under the flag he had hung from a long plastic tube. It's exactly the scene Adrián had wished for. “This year I think he’s going to win at least one stage,” he said, a call born more out of optimism than clairvoyance. “I’d love him to win here in Barcelona, but, well, we’ll see… I’m sure he’s going to win the Tour one day.”
That day may now feel a little closer. But for the moment, Del Toro is a lieutenant in Pogačar's mission to win a fifth Tour, a team-mate buoyed by the joy of victory.
Sunday’s stage win, though stamped with his name, was for all the fans that have come to support him: those wearing football shirts with Del Toro on the back, Nayeli, Rene and Adrián on the finish line, and the little boy at the team presentation, whose adoration for his hero just grew even stronger.
Sitting in his press conference, Del Toro looks down at his Mexican champion's jersey, and stretches out the material, pulling it towards the journalists. “I’m the only guy in the bunch that, if you see this flag, [you recognise] it’s me,” he says.
“Someone else might feel pressure, but I feel really privileged... I will take this [win with me] for the rest of my life.”
