UAE Tour 2026, February 16-22

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Sep 5, 2016
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So his natural instinct is to race, but he gave away a Giro because he wanted to be a good obedient puppy rather than win the Giro?

And I'm supposed to admire that?

Like how insane do we have to think to let ourselves believe he wasn't just couldn't do better when it was literally also the best climbing performance of his career until that point and on the only big MTF prior he basically got ragdolled by the entire top 10.
That's certainly a viable alternative scenario, real one was young kid, who barely needs to shave, had the race accidentally tossed in his lap and because of his vast experience of racing in a grand tour as a pink jersey wearing leader, he took advice, they said make Carapaz do some work, don't you chase and tow him, and to everyone's surprise, Del Toro and Carapaz both looking at each other with dumb looks on their faces" I thought you would chase " " no I thought you would chase " " no you chase " " no you do it " and the cycling world couldn't believe their eyes when both guys let the race go up the road . The mistake by Richard Carapaz, a racer with 14 grand tours on his record and Del Toro, Ayuso's wet behind the ears nervous wreck.. Both riders made a huge mistake. And when Pogacar told struggling Del Toro at worlds, when I go, you go. He followed, almost blew up and nearly blew up his race, but he did follow instructions. Del Toro made many many poor assumptions, when he was in the bus at camps, he just assumed that Ayuso, Yates, Almedia, Vine, Hirschi, were his superiors, Ayuso changed everything and now people talk and treat Isaac like he is a leader instead of a new domestique.
Watch Tom Brady roast and look at Drew Bledsoe story, pretty familiar, 1 guy hurt and his replacement never relinquished the job. Ayuso always had the possibility of just racing better than Del Toro. He chose drama instead. We will see how Almedia reacts to Del Toro's success.. time will tell.
And speaking of drama Visma ,everyone, everything in question, Bora, is Remco really the team leader?
 
Feb 7, 2026
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I think the Finestre stage has been discussed enough, but I have not given my oppinion yet, so I might as well.
In my oppinion, at the start of the stage and knowing in advance what kind of legs he and his rivals would have on Finestre, he was easily strong enough to win the race with just average tactics. Yes, he was less strong than Yates and Carapaz, but strong enough.

The biggest mistake was obviously made by his team for letting van Aert in the break and giving them 10 minutes.

On the climb itself, Del Toro might have tried his hardest (or not) but instead of hyperfocusing on Carapaz, there were at least 4 better options (not ordered):

1) Hyperfocus on Yates, ignore Carapaz
2) TT your way up, ignore others and do the fastest possible climb
3) Cover every move from Carapaz and Yates until you either blow or succeed to the end
4) Stay with your team and do a TTT from the top of Finestre to Sestriere

Then, what I think grates many the most happened after Finestre. He just stopped chasing after 1 minute of pulling. We have rarely (or never?) seen a rider in history in a similar situation just give up. There is always a chance if you try, the situation was dire but not 100% hopeless.
 
Jun 1, 2015
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Yes I agree that what happened after Finestre was what made it all somewhat bizarre and prone to conflicting perspectives. He did not appear to bury himself. I think the play was to TT up but that would have still left him by himself behind Yates, who was being pulled by Wout, a tough spot for anyone.
 
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Jul 9, 2009
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I was impressed by Del Toro today. Yes, it was only Tiberi, but it was a Tiberi who looks to be finally approaching the promise that some have seen in him for a while. Less impressed with Remco who was dropped from the favorites group by Yates, who only made it back when there was a slowing and then rode tempo on the front until Del Toro attacked, dropping Remco in the process. Del Toro was patient when his first accelerations didn't drop Tiberi (or rather did, a bit, but not until Del Toro was in need of a brief rest himself), he didn't relinquish the front but slowed the pace just enough that he could hit out again. Good stuff.
 
Feb 20, 2012
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Yes I agree that what happened after Finestre was what made it all somewhat bizarre and prone to conflicting perspectives. He did not appear to bury himself. I think the play was to TT up but that would have still left him by himself behind Yates, who was being pulled by Wout, a tough spot for anyone.
It's extremely simple. You start riding at like 95% planning to do a negative split, make it clear you're at least never saving Carapaz' GC position, and once Sestriere starts proper you just have to open all the canisters.
 
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Apr 30, 2011
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