Isaac Del Toro thread

[Tim Cahill]

The party line is that he didn't have the legs on Finestre, which I think is true.

However, the lack of effort was disappointing and silly. It also may be the case that UAE are sticking to that line to say it wasn't their fault, but they do seem totally not fussed about losing the Giro.

I think that's Maxtin trying to dull the criticism, sure looked like he could've come through on multiple occasions, this is Yates at 1 minute;

https://twitter.com/x/status/1928802740773277926

 

[Red Rick]

The party line is that he didn't have the legs on Finestre, which I think is true.

However, the lack of effort was disappointing and silly. It also may be the case that UAE are sticking to that line to say it wasn't their fault, but they do seem totally not fussed about losing the Giro.

I think they expected to lose, and the real surprise was it was Yates ran away with it rather than Carapaz.

Both being spent makes a lot of sense, you totally get this sort of behavior much more quickly when a rider is completely spent. On Courmayeur Roglic got dead last in the sprint for 3rd, which says enough about how dead he was. Meanwhile Nibali winning that sprints hows he left quite a bit out there.

 

[Brullnux]

I think that's Maxtin trying to dull the criticism, sure looked like he could've come through on multiple occasions, this is Yates at 1 minute;

https://twitter.com/x/status/1928802740773277926

This bit was absolutely insane, I agree. But maybe Del Toro just isn't as good at tapping out a high pace as he is following attacks? Shortly after this he went to the front and the time gap went out by quite a lot.

 

[Red Rick]

This bit was absolutely insane, I agree. But maybe Del Toro just isn't as good at tapping out a high pace as he is following attacks? Shortly after this he went to the front and the time gap went out by quite a lot.

Probably a token pull to get Carapaz to go pull again. I don't buy these guys don't know their threshold.

The main reason I think Del Toro was spent on top of Finestre is because he didn't really seriously try to drop Carapaz when he basically had a freebie to do so as he is the better descender.

Realistically, both were riding for 2nd place once Carapaz stalled at 1'40 behind Yates and Del Toro didn't start cooperating.

 

[Rou]

I think that's Maxtin trying to dull the criticism, sure looked like he could've come through on multiple occasions, this is Yates at 1 minute;

https://twitter.com/x/status/1928802740773277926

The most ridiculous and appaling riding I have seen from a leader in a GT honestly. Look how they play with Gee. It was obvious del Toro could have limited Yates at the top of Finestre with a much smaller gap.

 

[Rackham]

Judging by all the reactions, Del Toro's hero to zero arc in this Giro is quite something.

 

[Divergence]

IDT's riding was probably the worst effort by a rider in the leader's jersey on the last stage in a GT.

 

[KZD]

Honestly its quite sad to see people blasting Del Toro the way many in this forum or on social media are doing.

Yes, he did make mistakes, he should have paced with Carapaz to try to bring back Yates, especially when they were only 25 meters away from him or so but we need to contextualise things, he is a 21 year old that was not even supposed to lead UAE in this race and for the first time was in a position of winning one of the biggest races of the calendar.

If anything, yesterday UAE showed once again how tactically inept they are, first of all they let a rider like Van Aert in the break with such a gap that he can be useful to his leader after Finestre and then they don't tell Del Toro to chase Yates when he wasn't still too far back on the climb, because let's be realistic here, when Yates connected with Van Aert with a 2 minute gap, the Giro was lost but its a UAE defeat above anything, they were the ones that had the goal of winning the Giro not Del Toro himself.

For Del Toro this is actually a very succesful Giro. At 21, he got into a GT podium, won a stage and spent almost two weeks in pink. He showed the world that he is a GT rider and might very well win one in the future.

 

[Divergence]

Honestly its quite sad to see people blasting Del Toro the way many in this forum or on social media are doing.

Yes, he did make mistakes, he should have paced with Carapaz to try to bring back Yates, especially when they were only 25 meters away from him or so but we need to contextualise things, he is a 21 year old that was not even supposed to lead UAE in this race and for the first time was in a position of winning one of the biggest races of the calendar.

If anything yesterday showed once again how tactically inept they are, first of all they let a rider like Van Aert in the break with such a gap that he can be useful to his leader after Finestre and then they don't tell Del Toro to chase Yates when he wasn't still too far back on the climb, because let's be realistic here, when Yates connected with Van Aert with a 2 minute gap, the Giro was lost but its a UAE defeat above anything, they were the ones that had the goal of winning the Giro not Del Toro himself.

For Del Toro this is actually a very succesful Giro. At 21, he got into a GT podium, won a stage and spent almost two weeks in pink. He showed the world that he is a GT rider and might very well win one in the future.

I think people are not blasting him enough. Exactly, he is 21, not 12 years old. If you do not chase after the guy who can overtake you guess what; you will lose the race. Ridiculous riding by him.

 

[scribers]

IDT's riding was probably the worst effort by a rider in the leader's jersey on the last stage in a GT.

Fair enough. He just doesn’t have that much capacity for a GT …. Yet

 

[CyclistAbi]

My advice to del Toro would be never indulge the mob, they don't deserve it. Win it, when able, and that is that.

 

[P4rthen0n]

I think that's Maxtin trying to dull the criticism, sure looked like he could've come through on multiple occasions, this is Yates at 1 minute;

https://twitter.com/x/status/1928802740773277926

This section of the climb was infuriating to watch.
Carapaz actually managed to bridge to Simon Yates (they were only like 5m apart) and then both Carapaz and Del Toro went back to their stupid game.
Even if your game plan is to glue yourself to Carapaz's wheel, surely at that point, with Simon Yates within 2 bike lengths, you got to close the space.
And yet they didn't. Mind boggling.

I remember seeing something close to this once, with Contador and Andy Schleck in the Tour (can't remember which stage), where both were marking each other and ignoring everybody else, even getting dropped behind everybody else. But at some point both of them realised it wasn't worth it and worked together to close the gap.

 

[Skalman]

Judging by all the reactions, Del Toro's hero to zero arc in this Giro is quite something.

Yes, but hardly surprising, is it? Its nor everyday the race leader just capitulates and stop racing

 

[Netserk]

Now I feel good for disliking him.

 

[topcat]

It's so much more interesting and funny that del Toro lost the way he did rather than win. It would have been a big come down if he had just followed Yates and won. Most people, myself included, thought before the stage that the race was between Carapaz and del Toro. Yates had not seemed strong enough.
Yates rode extremely well but Carapaz's attacks were insane and weakened him. Del Toro would have made Rog proud with his man marking of Carapaz. I think del Toro was the strongest of the 3 riders but refused to change tactics when the Giro was sailing away from him. It was hilariously braindead from del Toro and the team. Hopefully del Toro will come back (preferably with a different team) and win the race.

 

[Cycling111]

This professional cyclist claims to have information that Del Toro was already empty.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1929069754783850704

View: https://x.com/williesmurfy/status/1929069754783850704

 

[Unchained]

Each one of these videos and early interviews are better than the next, here's a hundred plus years of bike racing knowledge, UAE staff, bunch of other racers and cycling management folks saying.. " Carapaz is who you must, absolutely need to focus on.. because.... " Del Toro follows conventional wisdom of all the " experts " and he has to wear the scarlet letter like he is some half wit..

View: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/niKlJRXsX_o

 

[Unchained]

Willie Smit puts that Del Toro was out of gas, and immediately someone says no Del Toro was and should have been fresh as a daisy and been able to chase everything, every time ,all 3 weeks including multiple grand tour winner Yates..
Post #691 by cycling 111!! Del Toro should have been better!!!

 

[Berniece]

This is just classic UAE. It’s supposedly not their fault, even though it clearly is. They lost the Giro for Del Toro, not the other way around.

I only blame Del Toro for not doing a lot of work on Finestre, that was dumb, but he’s young. What I really disliked was him being happy with 2nd place after the finish line… I don’t mind you finishing 2nd, but you have to go down fighting.

 

[Lequack]

So is he the new Pog? Or the new Simon Yates?

 

[Red Rick]

So is he the new Pog? Or the new Simon Yates?

The shoehornining of Del Toro into being the new Pogacar has been nothing short of annoying, and if I were a Pogacar fan i would frankly be insulted.

This is just classic UAE. It’s supposedly not their fault, even though it clearly is. They lost the Giro for Del Toro, not the other way around.

I only blame Del Toro for not doing a lot of work on Finestre, that was dumb, but he’s young. What I really disliked was him being happy with 2nd place after the finish line… I don’t mind you finishing 2nd, but you have to go down fighting.

It just starts with letting Van Aert get in the break, and then the folly continues with following that insane acceleration.

It would actually have been a perfect scenario to stay with your own teammates doing a consistent pace and letting Carapaz swim on his own. Your only problem is then when Yates starts to attack you, and I assume Yates would drop him and both would catch Carapaz at some point. Whether you lose the 1'21, nobody knows.

 

[Berniece]

It just starts with letting Van Aert get in the break, and then the folly continues with following that insane acceleration.

It would actually have been a perfect scenario to stay with your own teammates doing a consistent pace and letting Carapaz swim on his own. Your only problem is then when Yates starts to attack you, and I assume Yates would drop him and both would catch Carapaz at some point. Whether you lose the 1'21, nobody knows.

Indeed, letting WVA getting away was dumb, and how they rode Finestre individually and as a team was a junior level performance. I mean the team was together on the top of Finestre, McNulty did *** all, but at least he secured his top 10 place.

 

[Cycling111]

I've only posted what that cyclist said. His name sounded familiar. I remembered him from Tour of Turkey, he was on some of the breaks.
But I don't know where he supposedly got that information from. He obviously hasn't ridden in the Giro, but he'll have friends in the Giro peloton who'll have told him about it.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Considering del Toro could respond to each attack Carapaz made in rather convincing fashion and considering no attempt whatsoever was made on the descend, to try to close the gap to Yates. IMHO there is more to it then just being empty.

Maybe UAE will tell us the whole story someday.

 

[Gigs_98]

I think the Giro was lost on Finestre and neither him nor Carapaz were ever gonna win from that position. But the fact that he was out of virtual pink by 20 seconds, going into a descent, and just gave up is the thing that's really bothering me. He has no idea if he'll ever be this close to winning a GT again. He's not a great TTer (yet), his climbing level was clearly below of what you expect from a GT winnner. He has to improve massively from this if he wants to be certain to win a GT in the future. Of course given his age it's very well possible that will happen but you never know.