“I hope to have my best legs ever” - Del Toro prepares for decisive Giro stages

It was already Del Toro’s tenth consecutive day in the maglia rosa, which he claimed in stage 9 to Siena. “I’m slowly starting to get used to it, day by day,” said a modest Del Toro in the flash interview. “At first we tried to control the situation a bit, up until the first descent. After that, it was just about finishing safely, because the breakaway was quite big.”

The next two stages will decide the Giro. On Friday, the riders face no less than five climbs, three of which are first category. Del Toro knows everything is on the line. “I hope to be up front in the next stages and to have my best legs ever. We’ll see how the stages unfold, but I for sure want to be there,” he said with confidence.

For the general classification riders, Thursday’s stage 18 could best be described as the calm before the storm. “I think everyone tried to not spend a lot, because the next two days will be super hard,” Del Toro told Cycling Pro Net on camera. “At the end, today ended up being one of the most easy days of this grand tour. Not a lot of stress, but for sure we pushed a little bit. We’re waiting for the next days, and we hope to be up there.”

Del Toro experienced his first moment of weakness in the mountain stage finishing on San Valentino, the day after the rest day. Although he came back hard with a stage win the very next day, the finale of that stage suited him much better. When asked about Tuesday’s stage, where he lost time to his rivals, Del Toro looked back: “I just didn’t have the best feeling on the bike, but I still tried to stay with the best guys in the world. I did my best, and I have no regrets.”

“But when everyone is going so strong, you want to be there with them,” he continued. “I don’t know what it was that day, maybe I didn't have the best, maybe the weather, maybe my head. There are a lot of things I cannot control, but of course we want to better the next days,” he said with determination. “Honestly, we don’t yet. We will speak as a team and we will see. I'm not stressed about it, but as a team, we’ll for sure be there.”

On Thursday, Del Toro lost teammate Juan Ayuso. The Spaniard, who was originally the team leader for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, had to abandon the race due to a knee injury and a bee sting. “Personally, I think it’s a big loss and not the best situation to continue the Giro without Juan Ayuso and Jay Vine (who abandoned in stage 17, ed.),” Del Toro said during the press conference. “But we’ll manage the situation together as a team. We’ll try do our best as a team to keep everything under control.”

Del Toro knows the upcoming mountain stages will push him to the limit, but he remains calm. “Two hard days are coming. I can’t predict the future, but if I can stay with the GC riders and more or less control the race with the team, I’ll be happy. I know my rivals will try to attack me whenever they can. I’ll suffer, but mentally and physically, I’m ready.”