Isaac Del Toro managed what Tadej Pogačar couldn’t a year ago as he blasted to victory on the uphill finish to Liwa Palace for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, admitting that, despite planning to take on the sprint, he himself didn’t know just how strong he would be.
On the exact same stage of last year’s race, Pogačar placed himself among the big sprinters and came unstuck after hitting the wind too early. Del Toro, however, smelt blood and delivered for the home side on stage 1, holding off a late charge from Cees Bol (Decathlon-CMA CGM) on the breathless ramp to the line.
But Del Toro had already been plotting and planning a raid on the final, admitting in his flash interview that “I was thinking there might be a chance, but that was a dream, not being realistic. During the stage, I questioned my teammates if they could see this properly happening, but it’s still crazy that I’ve made it.”
Experienced UAE sports director Andrej Hauptman saw it slightly differently, revealing that a sprint for Juan Sebastian Molano was the plan – after the Colombian missed the chance to do so due to a late crash – which partially persuaded Pogačar into trying the move he did.
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