Del Toro sends clear signal toward Tour de France with brutally honest words

Isaac del Toro was a satisfied man after the seventh stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, but the 22-year-old Mexican from UAE Emirates-XRG was not exactly over the moon after his stage victory. Although Del Toro rode away from everyone on the brutally steep Grand Colombier, he still hopes to become quite a bit better.

Del Toro had already shown in Friday’s stage 6 that he was in good shape, managing to follow Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) when the Frenchman accelerated uphill. A day later, Del Toro did not have to worry too much about Seixas, who had already taken himself out of contention earlier in the stage after what he called a “stupid mistake” and a crash.

Juan Ayuso was the man who made the early move on the final climb on behalf of Lidl-Trek, before Del Toro left the chase group behind, bridged across to the Spaniard and then went straight over the top. “We wanted to try, after how I felt yesterday,” Del Toro said in the flash interview.

That may sound easy on paper, but Del Toro admitted he was not full of confidence with the Grand Colombier on the menu: 8.4 kilometers at an average gradient of more than 10 percent. “These long climbs are hard for me, but I’m getting better and better at them.”

“I was not full of confidence, but I really wanted to try to go for the win,” said the Mexican, who has already won the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico this year and can also add the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes to his palmarès on Sunday. “The general classification was always the goal,” he smiled.

Oddly enough, Del Toro was not even hugely impressed by his legs during his solo move. “It was not my best performance, but I was there and I’m happy the shape was good enough to keep going. From here, we continue, because I’m hungry for the next races.”

This summer, Del Toro is set to make his Tour de France debut alongside Tadej Pogačar, which makes this French dress rehearsal in June a logical one. “I actually didn’t think about the fact that this was my first victory in France. I enjoy being in this team, wherever we race. It’s crazy to be in this situation, and it’s still very special when they all help me.”

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]