photo credits @UAE Tour
Isaac del Toro started the UAE Tour in sensational fashion by winning the wind-shortened opening stage in Abu Dhabi today.
With UAE Team Emirates-XRG star rider and three-time champion Tadej Pogacar not racing this year, the focus has shifted to fast-rising Mexican Del Toro.
And the 22-year-old showed no signs of nerves as he took centre stage for the world’s No 1 cycling team as he held off the challenge of Dutchman Cees Bol (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) in a sprint finish to claim victory, with Italian rider Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) third.
Pre-race favorite and 2022 Vuelta a España champion Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe) crossed the line in 20th place, leaving him 10 seconds behind De Toro in the general classification.
The Belgian, who won the UAE Tour crown in 2023, had started the current campaign in impressive fashion
Two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard pulled out last week due to the effects of a recent crash and illness.
The stage from Madinat Zayed Majlis to Liwa Palace was reduced from 144km to 118km due to strong crosswinds across exposed desert roads
“I don’t have any words … It’s crazy, really,” said Del Toro, making his UAE Tour debut and after securing the overall leader’s red jersey for Tuesday’s time trial.
“It’s unbelievable. I honestly was thinking maybe there is a chance, but maybe just a dream and not realistic, even during the stage, I was asking my teammates if they saw this properly.
“I just saw a chance, and I didn’t want to regret it. I saw the riders open to the right, then to the left, and I went for it. It’s unbelievable to win the first race of the season as our home race, it’s crazy.”
Lidl-Trek’s big sprint hope, Jonathan Milan, endured a tough Stage 1 after crashing 1,500 metres from the end but was able to finish, albeit looking in some pain.
The riders remain in Abu Dhabi for Tuesday’s Stage 2, which consists of a 12.2km individual time trial around Al Hudayriyat Island.
“The team was incredible, I’d like to thank them all for what they did,” added Del Toro. “It was one of my first days experiencing this kind of wind, and it made things really hard.
“It’s nice to have a lead, but I’ll keep my feet on the ground, there are many hard stages to come. We all know Remco is unbelievably fast on the TT bike, so I’ll aim to be as close as I can be to him or the same as him, or even better.”
Earlier, Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Premier Tech) made up the day’s one-man breakaway, but it wasn’t until more than 10km of racing had gotten underway before the Swiss rider rode clear of the peloton.
From there, Dillier built a lead of more than two minutes as he reached Liwa to take the intermediate sprint. However, the landscape changed dramatically after that as fierce winds blew sand across the race, prompting officials to omit the Tel Moreeb cycle track and shorten the route by 26km.
Dillier was later caught with 31km remaining, with Jonathan Milan securing the second intermediate sprint points, while Ineos, Decathlon and Lidl-Trek scrambled into position.
Yet, del Toro produced a turn of speed that proved insurmountable, holding off this rivals to claim the first stage in this year’s UAE Tour.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
