What if he had kept going? Isaac Del Toro’s reaction after Giro heartbreak says everything about what came and what’s still to come

Seeing a red star next to Del Toro’s name for 2025 wasn’t surprising, given what he’d already shown in previous years. The Mexican broke through in 2023 by winning the Tour de l’Avenir, after which he immediately signed with UAE Emirates. For the team, he started 2024 with a bang, a stage win at the Tour Down Under, where he also finished third overall.

In the races that followed, Del Toro continued to showcase his immense potential. He finished fourth in a time trial at the Volta ao Algarve, took fourth at Tirreno-Adriatico despite riding in support of Juan Ayuso, seventh in the Basque Country, and won the Tour of Asturias. In his first grand tour, the Vuelta a España, he was given the freedom to race for himself, until COVID-19 sadly brought his promising debut to an early end.

Expectations were already much higher for 2025, but Del Toro told IDLProCycling.com: “I want to perform even better and get results, but that will come with time.” And that turned out to be true. In the spring he once again rode in support of Tadej Pogacar at Strade Bianche and Milan–San Remo, of Juan Ayuso at Tirreno–Adriatico, and of João Almeida at the Tour of the Basque Country.

Only at Clásica Jaén in February and Milan–Turin in March was he allowed to race for himself, and Del Toro immediately repaid that trust finishing second in the Spanish gravel race and even winning the historic Italian classic. For the Giro d’Italia, the young talent was given a free role. “And if I get the chance to go for the GC, I want to be ready for it,” he said.

The Giro turned out to be the major turning point in Del Toro’s career. On stage 9, over the Tuscan gravel roads, he suddenly found himself in position to win, seized the maglia rosa, and unexpectedly grew into the role of race leader. Showing no signs of weakness, he kept punching for bonus seconds every day and even claimed a mountain-stage victory deep into the third week.

There was no sign he would crack in the final weekend and it wasn’t his legs that caused him to lose the pink jersey after eleven stages to eventual winner Simon Yates (Visma | Lease a Bike). Del Toro played a risky game with Richard Carapaz (EF) and paid the price. He finished second overall in Rome, taking home the white jersey for best young rider.

The cycling world briefly feared that Del Toro might struggle to recover from the heartbreak of the Giro, but reality turned out very different. UAE Emirates-XRG sent him away from the spotlight of the Tour de France to the Tour of Austria, where Del Toro won three stages and the overall classification. He then went on to win two Spanish 1.1 races and took the overall title at the Tour of Burgos.

Re-energized and full of confidence, UAE let their future leader loose in a string of autumn races, especially in Italy. He won the GP Industria & Artigianato, Giro della Toscana, Coppa Sabatini, and Trofeo Matteotti. After a strong World Championships performance, fifth in the time trial and seventh in the road race, he continued his winning streak at the Giro dell’Emilia, Gran Piemonte, and, on Wednesday, the Giro del Veneto as well.

Add to all those victories a fifth place at the Tour of Lombardy, and it’s clear that Del Toro was far more than just a late-season rider in form. At just 21 years old, he now has nineteen career wins, sixteen of which came in 2025. But that’s not the whole story, this year, he also finished second nine times, including five podiums in the Giro.

The question is no longer whether Del Toro is the star of the future, but when he’ll have the physical depth to start seriously challenging UAE teammate Pogacar. If Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard haven’t managed to do it in the past two years, could Pogacar’s toughest competition soon come from within his own team?

Del Toro will head into the winter with that thought in mind and if 2025 proved anything, it’s that he’s mentally strong. When asked if the Giro loss was a blemish on an otherwise brilliant season, the climber replied maturely after his Veneto victory: “Not at all. We’re here to learn, without that result, I couldn’t have become the rider I am today.”

Bram van der Ploeg ( Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email : [email protected])