Del Toro claims he crashed on purpose to protect Pogačar suffering Vingegaard's fate: 'I had to choose'

Isaac del Toro can rightly be called the man of the day, if what he says about the crash involving him and Jonas Vingegaard is true. The young Mexican rider from UAE Emirates-XRG crashed during Stage 15 of the Tour de France after Vingegaard slammed into a curb right in front of him. Del Toro claims it was a It was a deliberate crash, which prevented an even worse outcome for his team leader, Tadej Pogačar.

In addition to Vingegaard’s hard fall, UAE Emirates-XRG was also involved in a crash after a roundabout. Felix Grossschartner crashed into Vingegaard, and Del Toro then also plunged into the crowd. The Mexican was riding behind Pogacar in the peloton and said in a flash interview that he had to decide quickly whether to avoid the crash or not.

"It was a tricky roundabout; the signage wasn't very clear, and the first Visma riders might not have taken the best line," Del Toro said afterward. Since UAE was right behind Visma | Lease a Bike as a group, the team was affected when Vingegaard crashed. “I had to choose between crashing myself or hitting Tadej, so I chose to crash myself.”

According to Del Toro, his fall wasn’t very hard. He quickly rejoined the race with Grossschartner, before Pogacar and Del Toro finished second and third in the stage results behind Remco Evenepoel. “I did feel some pain in my back and left leg once I got my rhythm back. We stuck to the plan as a team, though—but I was in pain.”

Pogacar ended up leading the entire final climb, pulling Del Toro along with him. The Slovenian also let the Mexican go for it, but his two attacks weren’t enough to shake off Evenepoel. “I may have made a few mistakes in the final stretch, but I’m happy with how the day went. We should have done a little better in the final stretch; then everything would have been perfect.”

Del Toro focused on making up time and climbed to third place in the general classification. This means UAE could win the Tour with Pogacar and finish on the podium with Del Toro—and perhaps also take the white youth jersey. “The podium is a possibility. We’ll keep working toward it and see how the upcoming stages play out.”

In the mixed zone, Del Toro commented on Vingegaard’s withdrawal: “It’s emotional; hopefully he’ll be back soon. It’s really a shame, because Jonas is a great rider and a true champion. It’s always a shame when something like this happens to a rider like him. Hopefully it’s nothing serious, because he was clearly in a lot of pain.”