Will Tadej Pogacar give away a monument victory to the incredible Isaac Del Toro in Lombardy?

In Gran Piemonte on Thursday, we saw a Del Toro that we have actually been seeing since the Giro d'Italia. Explosive, virtually unbeatable uphill, sprinting, pounding, and tactically excellent. In September, this led him to win the GP Industria & Artigianato, Giro della Toscana, Coppa Sabatini, and Trofeo Matteotti in succession.

After a return trip to Rwanda, where he finished fifth in the time trial and seventh in the road race at the World Championships, Del Toro continued his winning streak on Italian soil. First, there was victory in the Giro dell'Emilia last weekend. On Thursday, he added the Gran Piemonte to his list of victories. Earlier this year, he also won Milan-Turin, before winning a stage in the Giro, in addition to finishing second in the overall classification.

Add to that three stage wins and overall victory in the Tour of Austria, overall victory in the Tour of Burgos, and victories in the Spanish one-day races Circuito de Getxo and Clàssica Terres de l'Ebre, and we are at fifteen victories in 2025. Del Toro could hardly believe it after Gran Piemonte. “This year has been better than expected so far, both for the team and for me personally.”

Because 15 victories are just a drop in the ocean for UAE Emirates-XRG. Del Toro's victory in Gran Piemonte was the team's 92nd (!) victory, which means it has long since broken HTC Columbia's record (85 victories in 2009) and is well on its way to improving it even further. And there could be a few more to come.

UAE seems unbeatable this season, especially in one-day races with climbing. Del Toro rode solo to victory on Thursday after dropping Marc Hirschi (Tudor) and Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) on Castelletto d'Erro. "It was tough, but thanks to the team, I had nothing to lose. That's why I went for it right from the start."

"When the breakaway has such a big lead - and we have no domestiques left because of all our work - I just have to go as hard as I can on the steepest sections. That was the start. I gave it my all," analyzed the Mexican, who then left breakaway rider Mollema behind with another acceleration. "Otherwise, it would have been a lot more difficult."

Del Toro, who is still only 21, did not expect to win so much this year. “You always put pressure on yourself, and you always want to do better and be professional. But it was an amazing year. It's not really normal, it's unbelievable,” he said, as he looked back in amazement on yet another victory, as he has done so often in recent weeks.

The big question is: when will Del Toro compete against the really big names? Of his 15 victories, only the stage win in the third week of the Giro was at WorldTour level. We're very curious to see how he will fare on Saturday in the Tour of Lombardy. Of course, most eyes are on teammate Pogacar, who could win for the fifth year in a row. But what can UAE's plan B Del Toro do?

At the World Championships, he fell short in Rwanda due to stomach problems, despite breaking away with Pogacar. At the press conference after Gran Piemonte, he looked ahead to Saturday: “The goal remains to ride a good race for Tadej, to stay with him and help him take as few risks as possible.”

Del Toro thus rejected a role as second leader, although we already saw this year in the GP Montréal that Pogacar couldn't pull away from teammate Brandon McNulty and therefore let him win. Will the world champion give away a Monument victory to Del Toro? “He is a good and smart person so that I can learn a lot from him. Racing alongside him helps me,” said the new UAE star.