No caution this time from Del Toro, who took Pogacar’s advice very literally

The young Del Toro has occasionally struggled with the mental side of racing, but on the final mountain stage of the UAE Tour it all clicked. “As a team, we believed I could win,” he said in the flash interview. “It’s a mental game — you have to believe. Even when it doesn’t work once, you still have to keep believing. We weren’t sure we would win, but we had the mindset to go for it.”

Del Toro let his team do the work before launching his own move halfway up the climb. Tiberi responded to the first acceleration, but with 2.5 kilometres to go the Italian could not answer the second. Del Toro opened up a gap, extended it, and ultimately did enough to take the leader’s jersey on Jebel Hafeet.

Of course, the Mexican was one of the big favourites — but it was far from easy, physically and mentally. “With 2.5 km to go, I went all out and I knew I had to suffer all the way to the line,” Del Toro explained. “This win is among the three best of my career. Winning in a team like this feels very special to me, and it confirms I need to believe in myself more.”

After Pogacar’s overall win in 2025, UAE Team Emirates–XRG look set to win the UAE Tour again — provided everything goes to plan on Sunday. Did racing the team’s “home” event add pressure? “A lot of people think we have a lot of pressure for the UAE Tour,” Del Toro said. “Of course it’s important to win our home race, but I put more pressure on myself to perform well than the team does.”

Del Toro also credited Pogacar with helping him approach the moment the right way. “If I win the overall tomorrow, it would be my first WorldTour stage race,” he said. “It’s really important for me to reach that goal. It would make me a different rider, so I’ll be even more focused tomorrow. Tadej Pogacar told me to enjoy this race — try to win, but never look back, no matter what happens.”