Comeback kid Del Toro claims stage but Aussie aces quit
Twenty-four hours after it seemed the maglia rosa was slipping from his grasp Isaac del Toro has reasserted his grip in style winning the 17th stage of the Giro d'Italia with a bold late breakaway.
The young Mexican's first stage victory meant the day ended in triumph for UAE Emirates-XRG after an early blow when Australian teammate Jay Vine was forced to retire.
On a disappointing stage for Aussies Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) also abandoned the race while Michael Storer (Tudor), who had been tipped to climb the GC rankings, and maybe even win the 155km stage from San Michele all'Adige to Bormio, faded to lose more than four minutes on the leader, coming in 29th.
He now appears out of contention, being 10th overall, seven minutes 46 seconds adrift of Del Toro.
For much of the race, which featured climbs Passo del Tonale and Passo del Mortirolo, amid 3,800 metres of elevation, there was a breakaway which initially included Australians Chris Harper (Jayco AlUla) and Daniel Howson (Q36.5 Pro).
That was gradually thinned down until there was just Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL), who was seeking a Giro stage win before his retirement this summer to go with victories in the Tour de France and Vuelta d'Espana
Behind them was a bunch of GC contenders from which Storer had been dropped.
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), the 2019 Giro winner, had taken more than 90 seconds out of Del Toro's lead to move within 31 seconds of pink on Tuesday, and tried to repeat the trick on the Mortirolo but the 21-year-old, in his first Giro, caught him as they approached the short final climb of Le Motte before the descent to the finish.
Del Toro and Carapaz then burst away to catch Bardet before Del Toro left the pair behind 1700m from the finish.
Bardet, crossed the line three seconds after Del Toro, with Carapaz third. Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) finished fourth, 15 seconds down on Del Toro, to drop behind Carapaz in the general classification.
"The finish was very technical, and I had studied every detail. Whoever came through that final corner first was going to win," said Bardet. "Carapaz lost Del Toro's wheel — he was taking those corners like a madman. The road had started to get wet — it was truly impressive. He opened a five-metre gap and that was it."
Del Toro now leads overall by 41 seconds from Carapaz, who has a 10-second advantage over Yates. Canadian Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) is the only other rider within three minutes, fourth at 1:57.
"I imagined that I could win a stage with the maglia rosa. The Giro has been very good so far," Del Toro said after his win.
"The fight for the podium is incredible. Today I realised that I will never give up. I will always try to win. I have nothing to lose. It wasn't any easier today than yesterday."
Vine, who crashed badly in the opening week, was 97th at the start, more than two hours behind. He appears to have quit on the category 2 Tonale climb, around 90 km from the stage finish. Plapp, who won stage eight, was similarly placed.
After a string of mountain stages, Thursday's will be a largely flat 144 km ride from Morbegno to Cesano Maderno, which will attract the interest of Australian sprinter Kaden Groves.
with agencies
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