Del Toro touches the heights as Giro triumph beckons

West Australian

3 days ago

One down, one to go.
Isaac Del Toro maintained his tight grip on the Giro d'Italia pink jersey on the first of two massive alpine days.
Del Toro even managed to increase his advantage slightly on Friday as the Mexican rider edged closest challenger Richard Carapaz to claim second place on the 19th stage and two precious extra bonus seconds.
The duo crossed the line 58 seconds behind Nicolas Prodhomme, who claimed the biggest victory of his career on the Queen stage.
Del Toro inched to 43 seconds ahead of Carapaz overall. Simon Yates remained third but slipped to one minute 21 seconds behind Del Toro.
Del Toro has been in pink since the end of the ninth stage, when he became the first Mexican cyclist to lead the Giro.
His continued success has sparked cycling fever in his home country. He dominates the front pages of the newspapers and Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum wished him luck in her press conference on Thursday.
"It's amazing. I cannot believe it to be honest. All the people in my country now start to see the sport and how hard it is and it's just incredible," Del Toro said.
"I think we are coming a little bit, step by step, but now it's incredible this feeling."
He added with a laugh, "And I cannot believe I'm the guy who represents the country. They need to send another one better I think."
The stage featured 5,000m of elevation across five climbs, three of which were of the highest classification, on a 166km route from Biella to Champoluc.
Prodhomme was part of a large breakaway right at the start, and he pulled clear of the remaining escapees on the penultimate climb up the Col de Joux to solo to victory.
The French cyclist had a broad smile on his face as he approached the finish and he sat up and stretched out his arms before putting his hands over his face, in disbelief, as he crossed the line for his first win in a Grand Tour and only the second victory in his career.
"I waited a long time for a win, but I won my first race three weeks ago, and now I win here in Grand Tour, in Giro d'Italia," Prodhomme said. "I'm very, very happy and it's a very, very nice day."
Behind Prodhomme, Carapaz attacked on the final climb, 6.8km from the finish, and only Del Toro stayed with him. The pair rode away from the peloton.
Yates, who had been 51 seconds behind Del Toro at the start of the day, was 1.22 slower than Prodhomme.
Australia's Michael Storer climbed one place to ninth in the general classification after finishing 13th, 2.17 behind Prodhomme.
Chris Harper (32nd) and Damien Howson (48th) were the other Australians to finish in the top 50. Harper is 28th and Howson 42nd overall.
The Giro winner will almost certainly be decided in another mountain showdown on Saturday before the mostly ceremonial finish in Rome the following day.
The penultimate stage is a 205km leg from Verres to Sestriere that features the beyond-category climb on a gravel road to Colle delle Finestre, where Chris Froome's audacious attack in 2018 earned him the title.
"I have the same chances to win than before the Giro and I just want to be easy, normal guy," Del Toro said. "Big dinner and hotel, then in the morning we go again."