Del Toro had to put out unbelievable numbers to fix an (overly) cautious tactic

Wednesday, 18 February 2026 at 16:19

Isaac del Toro dropped earlier than Remco Evenepoel on the final climb of UAE Tour stage 3, but while the Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe rider ultimately completely collapsed, the Mexican from UAE Team Emirates–XRG found a second wind and finished second. Afterwards, he explained what happened.

Del Toro started this UAE Tour with a sensational uphill sprint on day one, holding off the fast men and immediately pulling on the leader’s jersey. He lost it again on day two after the individual time trial, however, conceding 41 seconds to Evenepoel.

On paper, that looked like a sizeable gap between two of the big names in this race — but on stage 3, the picture changed completely. On the brutally steep Jebel Mobrah, it wasn’t Evenepoel and Del Toro who launched the first moves, but Felix Gall (Decathlon) and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious).

Del Toro briefly looked in trouble, but clawed his way back towards the front quickly. Evenepoel went the other way, getting distanced after trying to follow Gall. In the final, savage kilometres, Tiberi rode clear — and Del Toro brought the gap down to 15 seconds by the line.

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Pure aggression @ISAACDELTOROx1 😈 #WeAreUAE #UAETour

1:57 PM · Feb 18, 2026

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Del Toro was cautious on new UAE Tour climb

We’ve seen this kind of “dangling and returning” approach more often in recent years — notably from UAE teammate João Almeida — but Del Toro still felt he had to explain why he looked like he was cracking, only to then reel Tiberi back in hard.

“It was a really tough climb on paper and from the profile,” Del Toro said. “I’ve never been used as the leader in a race like this, so I was very cautious with my effort on the climb.” He credited his team’s control. “They were perfect. They set the tempo and helped me. That gave me confidence, and I could still try something in the finale.”

By that point, the deficit to Tiberi was already significant, but Del Toro came close. “I tried to catch him, but he was really flying. Chapeau to him, because I really tried — also because I didn’t feel very comfortable in the group I was in, with Gall and others.”

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Del Toro was absolutely locked in 😤 After a relaxed start to the climb, Isaac del Toro left everyone behind in search of Antonio Tiberi but fell just short, finishing 15” behind. 😮‍💨 Del Toro sits 21” behind Tiberi on the GC 👊🏻

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1:59 PM · Feb 18, 2026

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Impressive numbers in the final minutes on the steep finish

“It was really fast in the finale,” Del Toro underlined, backed up by data shared via Velon. In the final nine minutes (2.7 kilometres) of the climb, the Mexican averaged 470 watts, with a peak of 870 watts on a section that averaged 12%.

It still wasn’t enough to pull Tiberi back, but Del Toro stayed upbeat: “I’m very happy with my performance and the team’s. We’ll see if the difference to Tiberi on GC (now 21 seconds) means something or not.”

Tiberi had already taken eight seconds on Del Toro in the time trial earlier in the race, yet the UAE rider insisted he wasn’t disappointed with his ride against the clock. “I wasn’t necessarily disappointed, because for me it was a good performance. It wasn’t my best day, and of course you hope for that. But I have to deal with it in a mature way — I have to keep going.”

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470w for over 9 minutes 🤯⚡ Isaac del Toro unleashed massive power in the final 2.7km attack closing Antonio Tiberi to secure second on UAE Tour Stage 3. ⏱️ Time: 9:21” 💨 Avg speed: 17.5km/h 🌬️ Max speed: 38.3km/h ⚡️ Avg power: 470w 💥 Max power: 870w 📐 Avg gradient: 12%