Isaac Del Toro thread

[James M]

Strong performance

His first race of the year and this was very strong from him on gradients he doesnt like for Feb. Above all this is a very good sign of whats to come, which is what its about for him and his development. He’ll be flying later in the season

 

[ice&fire]

We just need to update that "Tactically we're perfect" meme with Del Toro

 

[memyselfandI]

He's a clone of Almeida on the climbs, but more explosive.

He's very good, but with these characteristics, I see him more as a rider for tough classics and one-week races. For the Tour, I think Seixas will be a more dangerous contender in the future. And we'll see if Lipowitz.

Del Toro is an improved Ayuso; they both resemble Valverde. They're going to struggle to win a Tour and Giro against good climbers.

But they're going to win many races (they need to improve on Monument-distance races; Valverde was very good at that).

Seixas has pretty thin results and Del Toro is #2 in ranking for a reason. Seixas contender in gt's... almost completely unknown, he's never done one, to begin with. Del Toro almost winning Giro.

Lipowitz slowly showin something, maybe. Seixas atm is so overvalued and over hyped, time will tell no mercy there I guess.

 

[Cycling111]

Seixas has pretty thin results and Del Toro is #2 in ranking for a reason. Seixas contender in gt's... almost completely unknown, he's never done one, to begin with. Del Toro almost winning Giro.

Lipowitz slowly showin something, maybe. Seixas atm is so overvalued and over hyped, time will tell no mercy there I guess.

Seixas was 19 last year and he was in a development team. That's why I said in the future.

 

[AlfaLum]

Toro and Seixas are both contenders to win a GT in the future. Whether they will actually win one is only proven the day they win one. 😁

 

[YavorD]

Seixas was 19 last year and he was in a development team. That's why I said in the future.

Seixas is only 19 this year.
Last year he was only 18 an he wasn't in the devo team.

 

[AlfaLum]

Funny how every interview it still seems that Del Toro does not really believe that he is already as good as he is.

Easily top-5 Stage Race rider by now.

 

[canina82]

Funny how every interview it still seems that Del Toro does not really believe that he is already as good as he is.

Easily top-5 Stage Race rider by now.

Top 3 already. By the end of 2026, he will be top3 in GTs too.

 

[Netserk]

last year he was at his best in easier stages

so two mono climb stages are not testing his limits

 

[Extinction]

last year he was at his best in easier stages

so two mono climb stages are not testing his limits

Who, though, can out gun him now in the mountains other than Tadei and Jonas?

 

[Tim Cahill]

Who, though, can out gun him now in the mountains other than Tadei and Jonas?

On a stage with lots of mountains after 2 weeks, based on prior performance?

Roglic, Almeida, Thin Evenepoel, Lipowitz, Carapaz, Kuss, Michael Storer, Derek Gee, Pellizzari

I'd love to be proven wrong, he looks to have improved but whether it translates to a long mountain stage I don't know.

He beats them all on a unipuerto.

 

[Extinction]

Based on past performances means nothing. He's a super talent on UAE and ripening. Those guys soon will be cast aways.

 

[James M]

Based on past performances means nothing. He's a super talent on UAE and ripening. Those guys soon will be cast aways.

precisely with his trajectory and how rapidly hes clearly evolving, looking behind in his case is the surest way to get surprised.

Theres a bigger chance he’ll be right in the line behind Jonas, like some said, by the end of the year than not or at least sometime next year

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Yes last year he was maybe a 7-10 climber. This year I think he will be in the 3-5 range.

 

[Cycling111]

Del Toro has prepared meticulously for this race in altitude. He's very important for UAE.

By what margin do you think a well-prepared Vingegaard could beat Plapp and Tiberi?

You're underestimating Vingegaard. Just like last year when some people said Almeida could beat him in the Tour.
I am certain that the difference between themin the Tour would have been greater than in the Vuelta.

Vingegaard's gap to third climber remains wide; to say that someone has approached him, that third rider must win with a wide margin. And this would also have to happen in a GT because we already know that Vingegaard's level rises a lot in the Tour.

 

[Peyresourde]

According to my calculations, he did today:

Isaac del Toro | 81 (-5): 6.63 W/kg for 25:19 on Jebel Hafeet.

This is a similar level to stage 3 on Jebel Mobrah (82). Of course, the pacing today was much more irregular, so I consider today's performance better.
But I am still not sure if it is really a qualitative leap compared to last year where he also did several performances of around 80.

He is still missing that one extreme performance that would make me absolutely sure about his climbing potential. Nevertheless, his acceleration, sprint and consistency over the whole season make him a great rider already.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Good performance and the team rode for him as they would for Pogi, that is not something to take lightly either.

 

[Extinction]

precisely with his trajectory and how rapidly hes clearly evolving, looking behind in his case is the surest way to get surprised.

Theres a bigger chance he’ll be right in the line behind Jonas, like some said, by the end of the year than not or at least sometime next year

As far as super talent goes, I'm interested to see how Seixas developes. As far as I can tell, the future is theirs.

 

[Red Rick]

He was very irregular on Jebel Mobrah as well. I wouldn't be that surprised if this one was slightly more consistent before he blasted off.

 

[Peyresourde]

He was very irregular on Jebel Mobrah as well. I wouldn't be that surprised if this one was slightly more consistent before he blasted off.

At least it was more irregular for Tiberi...
With the attack he went from 15sec behind to 15sec ahead of Gall in a few hundred meters. Must have been monster watts and it looked visually extremely similar to Pogacar's attack on Hafeet last year.

 

[Red Rick]

At least it was more irregular for Tiberi...
With the attack he went from 15sec behind to 15sec ahead of Gall in a few hundred meters. Must have been monster watts and it looked visually extremely similar to Pogacar's attack on Hafeet last year.

Given that Tiberi could initially respond seated I doubt the watts were that crazy. If he goes full gas for 15 seconds he gaps him much more easily.

 

[Peyresourde]

Given that Tiberi could initially respond seated I doubt the watts were that crazy. If he goes full gas for 15 seconds he gaps him much more easily.

Yeah, it was not a high peak, but a 60s attack. If he did that intentionally, it was smart. He needed to cook Tiberi. If he gaps him immediately, they just do a 1 vs 1 TT in which case the final gap might not have been big enough.

 

[fenns]

On a stage with lots of mountains after 2 weeks, based on prior performance?

Roglic, Almeida, Thin Evenepoel, Lipowitz, Carapaz, Kuss, Michael Storer, Derek Gee, Pellizzari

I'd love to be proven wrong, he looks to have improved but whether it translates to a long mountain stage I don't know.

He beats them all on a unipuerto.

his Giro 25 performance was better than those last 5 have done recently

 

[Tim Cahill]

his Giro 25 performance was better than those last 5 have done recently

In long multi mountain races?

To be fair to him it's the fault of the Giro parcours, which was very light, but there are only really 2 serious references from last year, San Valentino, he was dropped by Carapaz, Michael Storer, Derek Gee, Pellizzari, and Lombardia, where he was pretty good but still finished in a group 4 minutes down with Seixas, Bernal and Pidcock.

Kuss maybe, though I think he's almost become underrated on here, he came alive on Courchavel and Bola Del Mundo last year.

Imo he rode the perfect race for 20 and a half stages last year, he did the right thing attacking in the hills/gravel and at the end of the softly ridden mountain stages to take additional time, he just kinda whiffed the ending.

Again there is every chance he's improved on this, but the likes of Hindley, Carapaz and Lipowitz who usually take a while to get going with a slow build are probably laughing at these kids doing full altitude camps for Algarve and UAE Tour. He's prepared at altitude for this race and lost to Tiberi on one stage and put 10 seconds into Luke Plapp in the other, I don't think he's shown a performance here that is outside what I would think of his abilities, great rider though.

I think this is a more realistic linear progression, rather than the Pogacar 10% 2024 bounce.

 

[Unchained]

Funny how every interview it still seems that Del Toro does not really believe that he is already as good as he is.

Easily top-5 Stage Race rider by now.

If you watch his first interview in context " you just won a sprint finish " Del Toro going over in his mind, there is no way in the world I just dusted two Milans and Sam Wellsford..but it was real..

UAE also showing early season shine with Christen and Morgado winning early.