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The Independent
4 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Isaac del Toro seals first Grand Tour stage win to cement overall lead at Giro d'Italia
Isaac del Toro won stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia to tighten his grip on the pink jersey in the face of more attacks from Richard Carapaz, who moved above Simon Yates into second overall. A day after Carapaz took more than 90 seconds out of his lead to move within 31 seconds of pink, UAE Team Emirates' Del Toro responded with his first career Giro stage win, beating Carapaz to the line in Bormio by four seconds but also picking up another six in bonuses to extend his advantage. It continued a historic Giro for del Toro, who became the first Mexican stage winner at the race in 23 years, and the youngest stage winner this century. 'It's incredible,' del Toro, also the first Mexican to wear pink, said. 'Everybody wants this [to win a stage in the leader's jersey] and today I realised that I will never give up and I will always try, I have nothing to lose. Today was not easier than yesterday but for sure I had a better mentality.' EF Education-EasyPost's Carapaz, the 2019 Giro winner, had tried again to break the 21-year-old Mexican on the Mortirolo, the main climb of the 155km stage from San Michele all'Adige, with an attack near the summit. The Ecuadorian opened up a lead of around 30 seconds on Del Toro and Yates, who started the day 26 seconds off pink in second place, but was caught again by the main favourites after the descent as they approached the short final climb of Le Motte before the descent to the finish. And it was near the summit of Le Motte that Del Toro responded with his own attack, a move that only Carapaz could follow. Riding together down the descent, they caught Romain Bardet - the last survivor of the day's breakaway - and would deny the Frenchman his dream of a Giro stage win to complete his Grand Tour set in his final season as a professional. 'I predicted something like this would happen, of course you don't want to let all the GC guys go,' del Toro said. 'I put a little bit of pressure on the others on the descent and then I tried to relax and recover to do the last kick on the last climb. We made this plan with the team and the team gave me the confidence to try full gas.' With just under two kilometres to go, Del Toro was able to drop Carapaz and hold off the Ecuadorian and Bardet to answer his critics after Tuesday, with the Frenchman taking second place on the stage. Visma-Lease a Bike's Yates finished fourth, 15 seconds down on Del Toro, to drop behind Carapaz in the general classification. Del Toro leads overall by 41 seconds from Carapaz, who now has a 10-second advantage over Yates. Derek Gee is the only other rider within three minutes of pink, fourth at one minute and 57 seconds down.
New York Times
4 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Isaac del Toro extends Giro d'Italia lead after recovering to win stage 17
Mexico's Isaac del Toro won his first-ever Grand Tour stage after sensationally recovering from being dropped on the day's penultimate climb. It means the 21-year-old UAE Team Emirates rider extended his lead in the Giro d'Italia's general classification (GC) to 41 seconds over Richard Carapaz, who finished third on the stage. Advertisement Carapaz now sits second on GC, with Simon Yates dropping down to third at 51 seconds back. Stage 17 took the riders over the infamous Mortirolo climb — over 12km at a 7.6 per cent gradient — whose name derives from the Italian for 'dead'. The Mortirolo was crested at 48km from the finish, before a short, sharp ascent of Le Motte as the day's conclusion. Having lost significant time to Carapaz on Tuesday's stage, barely holding onto his Maglia Rosa, there were fears that Del Toro's lead may not last the day — which were heightened when he slipped off the back of the leading group with 1.5km of the Mortirolo remaining. Carapaz then attacked with 500m of the climb remaining, at one point opening up a 30-second gap on the peloton, but was hauled back on the descent. Del Toro then recovered sufficiently to launch his own attack with seven kilometres remaining, which only Carapaz had the legs to match. That move meant heartbreak for Romain Bardet, the veteran Frenchman riding his final Grand Tour, who had looked likely to survive the breakaway to collect what would have been a hugely popular final major stage win. He was joined by Del Toro and Carapaz with 5km remaining. Del Toro attacked at the crest of Le Motte with just over 1km remaining, bursting away from his rivals on the remaining downhill to cross the line alone. His subsequent bow to the crowd, having become the first Mexican to win a Giro stage since 2002, was so low that he almost fell off his bike. 'Today I realised that I will never give up,' said Del Toro at the stage conclusion. 'I had nothing to lose. Today was not easier than yesterday, but I had a better mentality.' If he holds his pink jersey to Rome, Del Toro will become the youngest winner of the Giro since the legendary Fausto Coppi in 1940 in what is his first Grand Tour. Thursday's sprint stage is unlikely to shape the GC battle, but Friday and Saturday will be decisive, particularly the ascent of the Colle delle Finestre towards the end of stage 20. (Photos: Luca Bettini/AFP via Getty Images)
The Independent
5 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Giro d'Italia Stage 17 preview: Riders take on iconic Mortirolo climb on another heavy-hitting GC day
The intense final week of the 2025 Giro d'Italia continues, with more climbing on the menu on an intriguing stage 17 from San Michele all'Adige to Bormio. This is only a 'hilly' stage, officially, although with 3,800m of altitude gain in 155km and the infamous Mortirolo climb involved, that feels a slightly optimistic description. It's not as tough as yesterday's stage 16, but the fallout from that is likely to continue today, as the strongest GC riders - at this point Simon Yates and Richard Carapaz - continue to pile the pressure on their rivals. The roads kick uphill almost from the flag drop, with 50km of steady uncategorised climbing through Val di Sole - including at the first intermediate sprint at Cles, 23.5km into proceedings - before the real climbs start. First up is the Passo del Tonale, a steady 15.2km cat-two climb averaging 6%, with a long descent encompassing the second intermediate sprint and leading straight into the landmark ascent of the day, the Mortirolo. It's climbed from its 'easier' side, from Monno, but it's by no means an easy climb: 12.6km at an average of 7.6%, with highs of 16% on its punishingly steep uppermost slopes. The final 3km are all above 10% and there's no let-up from there, with a difficult descent leading into the valley road up towards Bormio. A short cat-3 climb to Le Motte, 3km above the valley, is tacked on - 8.2% with highs of 13% - before the run-in to Bormio itself. The road heads downhill inside the final 3km before going very slightly uphill from the flamme rouge to the line, with a few sharp corners to navigate late on. The design of the stage - similar to most mountain stages at this race, with the toughest climb far from the finish - means just about anything could happen. The GC contenders are likely to make moves on the climb to separate the wheat from the chaff, but there's a significant amount of descending and lesser climbing still to come - 50km of it. Alternatively, we could see a breakaway make a late move on the Mortirolo itself and stay away until the finish. Route map and profile Start time Stage 17 starts at 12.50pm local time (11.50pm BST) and is set to conclude at 5.30pm local time (4.30pm BST). Prediction Could this be a day for Simon Yates? The Briton was distanced by Richard Carapaz on the final climb on stage 16, but then recovered to put the maglia rosa of Isaac del Toro in difficulty for the first time in this race. He and the Ecuadorian look the strongest of the GC riders and will look to do more damage on the Mortirolo today. But this feels like another day for the breakaway, and there are any number of contenders: Luke Plapp and Cristian Scaroni already have stage wins, and Lorenzo Fortunato will likely be in the hunt for more KOM points to extend his lead in the maglia azzurra. But the design of this stage means that any potential winner will need to get over the tough climbs and also roll over the lumpy terrain to the finish line, so it's not necessarily one for the purest of pure climbers. We're going with Nicolas Prodhomme, who has been fifth twice so far this Giro, both times on similar stages to this one.
