Isaac del Toro unfolds UAE plan for upcoming Giro stages and answers question on whether he sees himself winning the Giro

Isaac Del Toro still firmly holds the pink jersey even after the second individual time trial of the Giro d’Italia. The Mexican rider from UAE Team Emirates said after the stage that he took no risks, and he had a clear message regarding his team’s tactical approach: “The important thing is to go all-in.”

Del Toro, who started last, had to ride the majority of his time trial in the rain, like most of the other general classification contenders. “I knew it would be tough, but my goal was to keep the pink jersey. I had a good lead, so I decided not to take any big risks. It wasn’t always easy to stay upright, but it was fun, and I’m very happy.”

“When I saw it was going to rain, I decided to ease off a bit,” Del Toro explained afterward in the mixed zone in Pisa. “Every corner made me nervous. I felt it already in the first turn, so I made the choice to take every bend a little slower. I only went full gas on the flat sections and there I really felt good, so I’m definitely satisfied.”

“Wearing the pink jersey is a dream,” Del Toro repeated. After the time trial, he immediately went over to speak with his teammate Juan Ayuso. “What did we talk about? Juan had stitches in his knee, so I asked if he was doing okay. He said he was, so that was good to hear.”

UAE Team Emirates now finds itself in a commanding position. Del Toro and Ayuso sit first and second overall, while Adam Yates and Brandon McNulty occupy seventh and eighth. “Wow, that’s really amazing. We’re going to play it a certain way, but how? You’ll see soon enough. I hope I have good legs and can be up there with the best riders in the race.”

“The race will sort everyone out,” Del Toro predicts. “If you look at the GC right now, you can see that all our guys are still in the mix, and that’s great for the team. Now it’s up to the team directors to make decisions, but for me and the others, it’s just about going all-in, whether that’s for my pink jersey or for the other guys. That’s how we see it for the coming stages.”

Day by day, the young Mexican is becoming a more serious contender for the overall win in the Giro. “I don’t know if I can win this Giro. I’ll need the best legs I’ve ever had. If I have the legs I had in Siena, then I believe it might be possible. But I don’t know. The only thing I can do is hope I have those kinds of legs again,” Del Toro concluded at his press conference.