Pink jersey Del Toro and UAE let Carapaz burn his matches: "We predicted something like this would happen"

"I tried to picture it that way," Del Toro said in his flash interview. "I’ve already finished on the podium three or four times in this Giro, and today I realized that I’ll never give up. I’ll keep trying. I’ve got nothing to lose. It wasn’t any easier than previous stages, but my mindset was better," said the rider in pink.

What exactly did he mean by that? "As a team, we predicted that an attack like that from Carapaz would come on the Mortirolo. I decided to stay calm and put some pressure on the others after the descent. The goal was simply to not let all the other GC guys ride away. So I took a moment to recover before the final climb."

"This was the plan we came up with, and in the end I had the confidence to go full gas all the way," said Del Toro, who powered away on the final ramp and dropped both Carapaz and Bardet on the descent. Super domestique Rafal Majka confirmed to Eurosport that it all unfolded exactly as intended.

"I’m not surprised. We stayed together and focused on bringing Carapaz back, that was our job," said the experienced Pole. "Del Toro didn’t have to go over his limit and we knew he had a strong kick. Around twenty kilometers from the finish, we told him we believed in him and it turned out we were right."