As WorldTour racing resumed in February, the eighth edition of the men’s UAE Tour brought a mix of shocks and expected performances from some of the biggest names in the sport, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG coming out on top again at their home race.
UAE’s Isaac del Toro emerged as the top rider to claim his first WorldTour stage race win overall. But the Mexican’s expected main rival, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was well off the pace on the two climbing days, despite making a flying start to the season and winning the UAE stage 2 time trial.
Isaac del Toro is only going to get stronger
Yes, he almost won the Giro d’Italia at the first attempt as a 21-year-old last year, but in the Middle East Isaac Del Toro has nonetheless also continued to take steps and add strings to his bow, both as a climber and GC hopeful.
The Mexican’s incredible close to the 2025 season saw him win so much that only Tadej Pogačar and Paul Magnier ended the year with more victories. But it was punchy routes and more short and sharp clubs where he excelled.
With Jebel Mobrah’s 15km and Jebel Hafeet’s 11km, Del Toro had the perfect test of his ability on a one-hit effort up a long climb, and he passed both tests with flying colours, pacing his effort well to finish second on the former, and scorching away from everyone on the latter with two brutal attacks.
He’s set to rejoin team leader Pogačar for some racing at the Italian Classics, Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo, but at Tirreno-Adriatico and…
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