UAE and Del Toro after battle with van Aert, stitches for Ayuso, and clear leadership statement in the Giro

Del Toro failed to beat Wout van Aert for the stage win on day 9, but that didn't wipe the smile off the Mexican top talent's face. He is suddenly 1.13 minutes ahead of his teammate and intended leader Ayuso and even has Antonio Tiberi a minute and a half behind him. He is the first Mexican to wear the pink jersey, and nothing suggests that he will lose it soon. "I didn't know I would do so well on this terrain," he said, surprised, in the flash interview after the race.

But Del Toro had already finished second in this year's Clasica Jaén and was also among the best in Strade Bianche when his leader, Tadej Pogacar, exploded. “I did think about it because I'm always a lucky guy in these kinds of races. I've had good results here before, so I felt pretty confident. But this... This is insane. I was lucky not to crash on that first stretch, but for a moment, I thought Egan (Bernal, ed.) was Ayuso because they're both wearing white."

Del Toro pushed on for a while, but when he looked Bernal in the eyes, he decided not to ride with Ayuso in a newly formed leading group of six. "I said I would stay behind and not ride with them. That was just the situation, and the team let me ride on the last wheel." Del Toro understood that he got that racing style back later when van Aert no longer took over from him: "That's okay."

"He has Simon (Yates, ed.) riding behind him, and that was just the situation in the race at the time," was his mature response. "I can't complain about that. I understand that, so I tried to pressure him to get away." That didn't work, as van Aert passed him in the twist-filled finishing stretch. "I just went all in, and maybe, perhaps on another planet, I would have dropped van Aert, but it didn't work out today. This is how it is, and I have no regrets."

In conversation with this website, sports director Joxean Matxin confessed that Del Toro was not among the top two contenders for the pink jersey on that day. "The plan was to get through the first gravel sector with Vine and Majka doing the legwork, then Arrieta and Baroncini would take over, and then we had McNulty to respond to attacks from others. Juan had to stay with Roglic and Adam (Yates, ed.), especially, and he had to survive on what was not his terrain. That was the idea."

However, Del Toro was the only UAE rider to avoid the crash on section 1. "In a stage like today's, predicting what will happen and when is difficult. Lidl-Trek shook up the race, forcing us to change our plan. We had to do that again when Brandon and Juan were involved in the crash, and we only had Isaac left at the front. It was good that he was there to control Bernal and snatch the bonuses."

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Only when Del Toro was left with Van Aert did they start thinking about winning the stage. The pink jersey was a fantastic bonus. "We are now suddenly in first and second place in the GC with Isaac and Juan, so the others will have to attack now. Do we have three leaders now? Phew, Isaac rode the Vuelta last year as his first Grand Tour, but he was ill and spent two weeks mainly fighting to reach the finish. This is his first time in this situation, so we have to take it day by day and see how he responds."

"After the time trial on Tuesday, we'll know what the differences are to the other contenders," said Matxin cautiously, who is proud of his Mexican star. "Isaac is a good rider but an even better person. He's great; I really love that guy. But the whole team here is fantastic. McNulty and Adam Yates put their own classification on the line today to help Juan gain time on Roglic. That's the vibe in our team."

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So, was everyone happy in the end? No. Ayuso did gain time on Roglic but also suffered an injury in the crash. "He'll need at least two or three stitches in his knee. At first, it didn't look like Juan was going to crash, but another rider hit him, causing a cut to his knee. Juan really suffered today. We will now try to defend our positions in the standings, with Adam still in ninth place. Three men in the top 10, not bad."

Del Toro wisely refused to celebrate too early on Sunday. "I don't think my situation is any better than my teammates. Today was just a perfect day for the team and me. We tried to use today to win this Giro, but I don't know. I don't necessarily want to be ahead of them, but that's cycling, right? Let's see in the time trial. I think it's the longest time trial (28.6 kilometers, ed.) I've ever done. So we'll see because it's also new to me."

When asked how far Del Toro thinks he can go in this Giro, he replied candidly in his first interview after the finish: "Dreaming is free, but I can't really believe it yet. We'll see, but now I just have to eat well today, get some sleep, and then we'll see next week. Sometimes you have days when your legs are fresh, like today, and sometimes you don't." During the press conference, he added: "I don't think I'm suddenly the leader now. I trust Juan and Adam more in that regard."

"They've already shown they can do something like this. Maybe I can do something crazy, but I have a lot of respect for them," he continued. "Of course, we'll see if I have the legs to keep this up, and if so, we'll try it. It's hard to say that I'm confident because that is dangerous in cycling. Anything can happen every day, but I want to believe I can do my job well. We'll see in the last week."

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