Isaac del Toro sprinted to victory from a select trio on stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday to extend his overall lead in the race.
After a difficult day on stage 16 where the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider lost over a minute to Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Del Toro reminded all of his form with an important win the next day.
Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL) and Carapaz followed Del Toro to the line in Bormio, four seconds behind, which meant the latter extended his advantage in the general classification. He now leads by 41 seconds.
Meanwhile, Carapaz and Del Toro gained time on Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike), meaning he slips to third overall, and the rest of the group of favourites for the maglia rosa.
The decisive attack came on the final climb of Le Motte, not the Mortirolo, despite Carapaz's best efforts. Del Toro is just the second stage winner from Mexico.
Speaking afterwards, Del Toro said that his final attack was pre-planned by UAE Team Emirates, revealing that he had received a confidence boost from his teammates after realising they all still had faith in him to win the Giro.
"I wanted to imagine it like this," he said. "So far it’s been really good, I've had three or four podiums, this Giro is incredible. Everyone wants this and realised today that I’ll never give up, I will always stay one step in front, I will always try and I have nothing to lose. Today was not easier than yesterday but for sure I had a better mentality."
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"I predicted with the team that something like this would happen," he added. "You don’t want to let go only GC riders, I went to them, I took it easy for a bit, I then put a bit of pressure on the others after the descent [from the Mortirolo] and then I just tried to recover to do the last kick on the last climb."
How it happened
(Image credit: Getty Images)
After stage 16 of the race brought GC fireworks in the high mountains, more of the same was expected on the road to Bormio with the fight for the pink jersey poised on a knife edge.
Three huge climbs were on the menu, with the menacing Passo del Tonale and the Passo del Mortirolo coming before a final category three ascent to the finish. Attacks rained down as riders fought to be in the day’s breakaway; several of the GC teams looked to ensure they had men well positioned as satellite riders for later in the stage.
A large group finally formed as the Tonale loomed large. 38 riders were present to begin with, including Wilco Kelderman and three of his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates. Geog Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) were also in the move. As was to be expected, Fortunato demonstrated his climbing prowess and took the mountains points on offer at the summit to further extend his lead in the magliza azzurra competition. Several accelerations amongst the leaders split the group up as they began the descent.
Ineos Grenadiers, EF Education-EasyPost and Visma led the peloton into the base of the Mortirolo climb as a select group of GC riders soon began to form. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) was immediately distanced as the attacks started to come once more in the breakaway.
As the GC group approached the summit, Richard Carapaz launched a searing move which opened up a gap on the steeper slopes. The EF rider was relentless, pulling out more than 300 metres before Simon Yates and race leader Isaac del Toro finally attempted to respond. Carapaz attacked the descent, looking to pull out every metre that he could as he tore towards the valley roads.
Carapaz’s attack was finally shut down at the base of the climb as Del Toro and his UAE Emirates teammate, Adam Yates, brought the GC group back in contact. Meanwhile, up the road, Martínez was joined by seven other riders, including Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL) as the final climb to Le Motte approached.
Bardet appeared to be on the cusp of a stage win, but Isaac del Toro had other ideas. The race leader tore out of the GC group as the top of the climb approached. Only Carapaz could follow the Mexican, and the duo then went in pursuit of the lone Frenchman. After Bardet had been caught, Del Toro then accelerated at speed away from his rivals to take a resounding victory in the maglia rosa, his first of this Giro, and extend his lead. Carapaz took third behind Bardet and moved up to second overall.
1. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 3:58:48 2. Romain Bardet (Fra) Picnic-PostNL, +4s 3. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, at same time 4. Simon Yates (Gbr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +15s 5. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +16s 6. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, 7. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, 8. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, 9.Max Poole (Gbr) Picnic-PostNL, at same time 10. Afonso Eulalio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +56s
General classification after stage 18
1. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 65:30:34 2. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +41s 3. Simon Yates (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +51s 4. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +1:57 5. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious +3:06 6. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +4:43 7. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +5:02 8. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +6:09 9. Adam Yates (Gbr) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +7:45 10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +7:46
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Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW in 2021 he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.
Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to riding bikes.
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