After cracking during yesterday’s mountainous stage, Isaac del Toro rebounded to claim today’s even more vertically challenging stage to Bormio, after he executed a stinging late attack 1.5km from the finish.
The young Mexican rider surged clear from a select group of GC favorites on the final climb of the day at Le Motte, 9km from the finish of the 155km stage, taking his main GC rival Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) with him.
From there, the duo reeled in the remaining escapee, Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL), along on the largely downhill run to the line, taking turns to hold off the chasing group behind. While, it looked as though the stage would culminate in a three-man sprint to the line, Del Toro had other ideas and put in one last acceleration to go clear on the streets of Bormio to seize the day’s honors
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 favorites for the maglia rosa.
Earlier, as the Tonale loomed, a large breakaway group finally formed, with 38 riders going clear including the likes of 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). As 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 to the start of the Mortirolo climb as a select group of GC riders soon began to form.
As the GC group approached the summit, Carapaz launched a searing move that opened up a gap on the steeper slopes. The EF rider was relentless, pulling out more than 300 meters before Yates and Del Toro finally attempted to respond. Carapaz attacked again along the descent, looking to pull out every meter that he could as he tore towards the valley roads.
However, 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 Del Toro had other plans The race leader tore out of the GC group as the top of the climb approached. Only Carapaz could follow the young Neo-pro, 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.
