Isaac Del Toro thread

[Landeirovic]

I think the only question is whether he'll be fatigued by week three, although with this route there's a better chance he won't collapse because the first two weeks haven't been as grueling as other routes.

Del Toro was an excelente climber in U23 , and the little we've seen of him as a professional was also good.
His performance at Tirreno 2024 was excellent for a rookie.
Last year, he arrived at the Vuelta fatigued after a long season.

Del Toro had Covid in that Vuelta.

But his best stages were in the third week, and his best performance was a sixth-place finish in a mountain stage in a GT that was difficult for him.
With that data, I wouldn't be so calm if I were his rival.

O'Connor is supposedly a worse climber than Del Toro. Roglic beated him, but Enric Mas and Carapaz no,
being better climbers than O'Connor.
Some consider Carapaz more favorite than Del Toro, but Carapaz couldn't overtake O'Connor. If Del Toro performs better than O'Connor, it could be difficult.
This mountain is tougher than the Vuelta, but the last precedent is that they can't trust anyone or give them seconds every day.

Besides, he doesn't have the pressure of losing.

If Del Toro collapses like Simon Yates, the conclusion will be that he's too young and inexperienced.
He´s a lot of margin for improvement due to his age.
He didn't even come to this Giro to get on the podium; UAE had two other leaders. Del Toro is leading, but he doesn't have the pressure of winning that Ayuso and Roglic have. For him, a podium finish would be a result that wasn't even in his plans.

He'll be a little nervous given the situation, but he doesn't have the pressure that others feel.
Even riders like Carapaz and Bernal, who weren't favorites, will be more anxious to redeem themselves after poor results in GC.

 

[Cycling111]

I think the reason was a mix of both.

Del Toro didn't initially have the Vuelta on his calendar. He raced a lot races, he didn't have optimal preparation for a GT, and his pre-GT schedule was too extensive for someone of his age.

 

[Cycling111]

Del Toro could´ve made more of a difference today, but UAE didn't let him.

 

[Didinho]

Another day closer. He still looks so impressive.

I’ve never seen him so much in front before, legs are too good to yoyo from position 25 to 5. Was always curious what he could do if he didn’t start so far back, we are witnessing something special if he can pull this off.

 

[AlfaLum]

Could have won a minute on everyone today of UAE played their cards right today, but they didnt

 

[nightowl]

The way he closed Gee’s move today was ridiculous. Just blew everyone off his wheel instantly and went by Tiberi like he was standing still. I’m convinced that if he’d continued the attack instead of braking and looking back for Ayuso that he would’ve taken time today.

 

[staubsauger]

Dunno if this wasn't super stupid by UAE. If they had sat up on Grappa with Del Torro being up front, he might have gained 3-4 minutes today. Red Bull couldn't have taken over the chase with Roglic on a miserable day and Visma didn't have the numbers to organize a chase either. Ineos, Israel, EF, Movistar even UAE all had helpers around and interest to pull out the gap.

That actually would have been a Cunego 2004 situation. With Del Torro attacking up towards Dori and manifesting the pink jersey. Not maybe maybe, but likely likely!

UAE could have taken it easy next week and controlled the race. Now everyone saw that Ayuso currently is the weaker rider. UAE needs to let them fight against each other at this point. They can't even sort this out politically tomorrow. Fuelling the weaker rider in Ayuso better on the rest day at this point is just as risky as giving full team leadership to the unproven talent in pink.

This wasn't wisely played IMHO. UAE could have let the race situation straighten things out.

Unless Del Torro completely falls apart up towards Monte Baldo they've been asking for problems today.

 

[Didinho]

The difference in faces. Casually strolling along.

 

[hayneplane]

Del Toro looked electric today. Responded to every attack with an extravagant ease and if he didn’t have UAE riding against him he could have put a giant foot forward today and taken minutes off the rest.

Still a good day but he is entitled to feel very hacked off with team management.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Landa on Del Toro

“Watching Del Toro reminds me of the 2015 Giro, the one Alberto won. Back then, I had better legs than Aru, but out of respect I sometimes held back and didn’t race for myself. I see a bit of that in him now. He responds to attacks, but always seems to look over at Juan [Ayuso], who’s officially the team leader. We’ll see how that dynamic plays out in this final week.”

 

[AmRacer]

The difference in faces. Casually strolling along.

Pogi copycat

 

[Cycling111]

When he caught with them, Derek Gee also put on his vest easily

Gee surprised me today. He caught up with them very easily, and then with the vest, he looked just as easy as Del Toro.

 

[YavorD]

The way he closed Gee’s move today was ridiculous. Just blew everyone off his wheel instantly and went by Tiberi like he was standing still. I’m convinced that if he’d continued the attack instead of braking and looking back for Ayuso that he would’ve taken time today.

He could've, but with a few teams working in the last 20 kilometres, it would've been probably less than 30 seconds. I don't think 30 seconds are that worthy for the effort he'd put.

 

[hayneplane]

He could've, but with a few teams working in the last 20 kilometres, it would've been probably less than 30 seconds. I don't think 30 seconds worth the effort he'd put.

Agree. It was highly impressive but the plateau was far too long for a move to be worthwhile for anyone except Remco.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Abandoned by the team.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Abandoned by the team.

More like the team wanted to be close to him at all times, the exact opposite of abandonment.

 

[Extinction]

More like the team wanted to be close to him at all times, the exact opposite of abandonment.

I think that is what happened. He's, after all, a 21 years-old kid, amazingly sprite, but now the real stuff begins. Better to have support from teammates when needed than become overexcited.

 

[CyclistAbi]

More like the team wanted to be close to him at all times, the exact opposite of abandonment.

Haha. You could call it like that indeed, we just wanted to stay close to you del Toro.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Now that it’s clear Roglic’s chances are slim, I’m adding Del Toro as protected rider status. I wouldn’t mind seeing Carapaz win either, or Bernal, but if Roglic is going to get chewed up by the tarmac, we might as well as see the birth of a new legend in Del Toro. It could all come crashing down in the high mountains, but I don’t think so. I think the kid has got it and will be a top 3 GT rider within the next year or two.

 

[Hugh Januss]

The difference in faces. Casually strolling along.

It's not that hard to look good when your team manager won't allow you to pull through.

 

[Cookster15]

It's not that hard to look good when your team manager won't allow you to pull through.

Sure, but even so he looks very very good? Reminds me of when Pogi was taking a casual drink on Vingo's wheel on the PdB stage in the Tour.

Next stage maybe UAE's team manger won't have a choice. We will see. At least we will truly find out about Del Toro's grand tour climbing credentials.

 

[topcat]

View: https://youtu.be/0mYBSayCsH0?si=OFmihbPa0tWpTcfd

 

[Potomac]

Landa on Del Toro

Maybe he can equal Landa's career.

 

[Extinction]

Maybe he can equal Landa's career.

Landa was always thereabout, but del Toro seems really promissing. Unfortunately, he has Pogacar to deal with to emerge.

 

[AlfaLum]

Landa was always thereabout, but del Toro seems really promissing. Unfortunately, he has Pogacar to deal with to emerge.

It doesnt hurt him yet, probably also not next year. If he ever reaches Pogacars level in the next couple of years the problem will solce itself.

If he doesnt then the GT that Pogacar does not ride will be anyhow the biggest that del Toro can aim for.