Del Toro claims Giro dell’Emilia after thrilling duel with Pidcock

Before the start of the race around Bologna, there were several notable absentees. Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel, and Jonas Vingegaard were in France for the European Championships, but Giulio Ciccone withdrew the day before due to illness. The entire Israel-Premier Tech team was also absent: the organization opted for the safety of the riders and decided to exclude the team.

However, big names such as Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG), Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost), Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) were present. Cian Uijtdebroeks was also there on behalf of Visma | Lease a Bike, who will leave the team after this season for a Spanish adventure with Movistar. The Dutch team also targeted Britain's Ben Tulett.

The first seventy kilometers of the Giro dell'Emilia consisted of a flat approach. Then, for the rest of the nearly two-hundred-kilometer race, it was basically all uphill or downhill. After a succession of three climbs, of which the Monzuno (9.1 km at 5.2 percent) was the most difficult, came the Monte Calvo, followed by the grueling local circuit. The riders had to tackle the steep San Luca as many as five times.

Picnic PostNL made its move in the opening phase and had no fewer than three riders in the early breakaway of five riders. They were the Dutchmen Gijs Leemreize and Enzo Leijnse and the young Brit Jacob Bush. The other two attackers were the Spaniards Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos Burpellet BH) and Pablo García (Tem Polti VisitMalta).

The leading group built up a maximum lead of about five minutes and overcame the first three climbs. However, the peloton significantly increased the pace towards the first climb of San Luca, causing the lead to dwindle. As a result, Leemreize and Bush were the last escapees to be caught before the first climb of San Luca.

Led by UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the peloton was decimated on the first three climbs of San Luca. With two laps to go, a group of thirteen riders remained, including almost all the favorites. Uijtdebroeks and Tulett were there on behalf of Visma | Lease a Bike. UAE was represented by Jay Vine, Adam Yates, and Del Toro. Other big names in the group were Roglic, Pidcock, and Richard Carapaz.

On the penultimate climb of San Luca, it was Uijtdebroeks who attacked. Lenny Martinez jumped with the Belgian. Behind them, Yates kept the pace high on behalf of UAE. Uijtdebroeks and Martinez were thus only able to ride away for a handful of seconds. Although the group briefly fell apart on the climb, almost everyone came back together after reaching the summit.

A group of twelve riders then headed for the final passage of San Luca. Once again, it was Uijtdebroeks who opened the attack. However, he was outpaced by a strong Pidcock. With a kilometre and a half to go, the Brit opened up a gap of about ten seconds.

Pidcock didn't budge and stayed on the pedals on the steep sections. However, with one kilometer to go, the Q36.5 rider slowed down a bit. This gave Del Toro the chance to leapfrog him. The Mexican caught up with him 700 meters from the finish. The differences behind them were small. Del Toro then surprised Pidcock with an early sprint and took the victory. Martinez completed the podium.