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Del Toro extends Giro lead as Yates drops to third

Yahoo

28-05-2025

Business
Yahoo

Del Toro extends Giro lead as Yates drops to third

Mexico's Isaac del Toro retained the pink jersey after victory on stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia as Britain's Simon Yates slipped down to third overall. UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Del Toro clinched his first stage win of the tour after he broke away from Frenchman Romain Bardet and Ecuador's Richard Carapaz with two kilometres left. Del Toro crossed the line in three hours 58 minutes and 48 seconds - four seconds ahead of the second-placed Bardet, with Carapaz third and Yates back in fourth spot. Del Toro leads the general classification by 41 seconds from EF Education-EasyPost's Carapaz, who has a 10-second advantage over Visma-Lease a Bike rider Yates. Carapaz had taken more than 90 seconds out of Del Toro's lead after Wednesday's stage 16 to reduce the 21-year-old's advantage to 31 seconds. However, Del Toro was the freshest of the riders during the descent of the 155km stage from San Michele all'Adige to Bormio to seal his success. "Everyone wants this [pink jersey] and today I realised that I will never give up and I will always try and stay one step in front," he said after becoming the race's first Mexican stage winner in 23 years and the fourth youngest this century. "I think this is my third or fourth podium in this year's Giro – it's incredible. I have nothing to lose. Today was not easier than yesterday but I had a better mentality. "I did this last climb with the team and they gave me the confidence to go for it, full gas." Carapaz, the 2019 Giro winner, had tried again to break Del Toro on the Mortirolo, the main climb of the stage with an attack near the summit. The Ecuadorian, 31, opened up a lead of around 30 seconds on Del Toro and Yates, who started the day 26 seconds behind in second place. But Carapaz was caught again by the main favourites 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 where Del Toro responded with his own attack - a move that only Carapaz could follow. Riding together down the descent, they caught Bardet - the last survivor of the day's breakaway - and would deny the 34-year-old his dream of a Giro stage success to complete his Grand Tour set in his final season as a professional. With just under two kilometres to go, Del Toro was able to close in on Carapaz and, when he nipped in front, had the power to hold him off in the sprint. Thursday's 144km stage features three climbs in the first half of the race followed by flat terrain as the riders move from Morbegno to Cesano Maderno. Isaac del Toro (Mex/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3hrs 58mins 48secs Romain Bardet (Fra/Team Picnic PostNL) +4secs Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost) +4secs Simon Yates (GB/Visma-Lease a Bike) +15secs Giulio Pellizzari (Ita/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +16secs Derek Gee (Can/Israel-Premier Tech) Same time Damiano Caruso (Ita/Bahrain Victorious) Same time Einer Rubio (Col/Movistar) Same time Max Poole (GB/Team Picnic PostNL) Same time Afonso Eulalio (Por/Bahrain Victorious) Same time Isaac del Toro (Mex/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 65hrs 30mins 34secs Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost) +41secs Simon Yates (GB/Visma-Lease a Bike) +51secs Derek Gee (Can/Israel-Premier Tech) + +1min 57secs Damiano Caruso (Ita/Bahrain Victorious) +3mins 6secs Egan Bernal (Col/Ineos Grenadiers) +4mins 43secs Giulio Pellizzari (Ita/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +5mins 2secs Einer Rubio (Col/Movistar) +6mins 9secs Adam Yates (GB/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +7mins 45secs Michael Storer (Aus/Tudor Pro Cycling) +7mins 46secs

Olav Kooij sprints to victory on stage 12 of Giro d'Italia

Yahoo

22-05-2025

Sport
Yahoo

Olav Kooij sprints to victory on stage 12 of Giro d'Italia

Olav Kooij sprinted to victory on stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia as Isaac Del Toro retained the pink jersey in Viadana. Kooij was helped by a superb lead-out from Visma-Lease A Bike team-mate Wout Van Aert, with Casper van Uden second over the line ahead of Britain's Ben Turner. The 172km stage from Modena, the first opportunity for the quick men in a week, came down to the final few bends of a technical finish left slightly damp by earlier rain in Viadana, and Van Aert used all his experience to win the fight for position going into the final sharp left-hander. Team Picnic PostNL's Van Uden tried to go long with his sprint after being left with a slight gap as the road straightened out, but Kooij kept his cool to take the win while the Ineos Grenadiers' Turner held off Mads Pedersen for the last step on the podium. A small crash in the peloton with around one kilometre left to go neutralised the times for the overall standings, allowing the general classification contenders to sit up. Del Toro leads by 33 seconds from his UAE Team Emirates team-mate Juan Ayuso with Bahrain-Victorious rider Antonio Tiberi third. Bonus seconds saw Wednesday's stage winner Richard Carapaz move up to fourth, on the same time as Kooij's team-mate Simon Yates in fifth, one minute and 11 seconds off pink. "It's really nice to see Olav finishing it off after a really good lead out, I have to say," Van Aert said after the race, "We used our horsepower and he has the kick." Kooij added: "Only Wout can do such a long lead out like today's. I got an extraordinary support. I have to thank my teammates, also the rest of the team did a fantastic job." Friday's stage 13 will take the riders 180km from Rovigo to Vicenza.

Olav Kooj nabs Giro stage win, Isaac del Toro still leads overall

RTÉ News

22-05-2025

Sport
RTÉ News

Olav Kooj nabs Giro stage win, Isaac del Toro still leads overall

Olav Kooij sprinted to victory on stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia as Isaac Del Toro retained the pink jersey in Viadana. Kooij was helped by a superb lead-out from Visma-Lease A Bike team-mate Wout Van Aert, with Casper van Uden second over the line ahead of Britain's Ben Turner. Ireland's Sam Bennett (Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale) was 11th, and is now 145th overall. The 172km stage from Modena, the first opportunity for the quick men since Saturday, came down to the final few bends of a technical finish left slightly damp by earlier rain in Viadana, and Van Aert used all his experience to win the fight for position going into the final sharp left-hander. Team Picnic PostNL's Van Uden tried to go long with his sprint after being left with a slight gap as the road straightened out, but Kooij kept his cool to take the win while the Ineos Grenadiers' Turner held off Mads Pedersen for the last step on the podium. A small crash in the peloton with around one kilometre left to go neutralised the times for the overall standings, allowing the general classification contenders to sit up. Del Toro leads by 33 seconds from his UAE Team Emirates team-mate Juan Ayuso with Bahrain-Victorious rider Antonio Tiberi third. Bonus seconds saw Wednesday's stage winner Richard Carapaz move up to fourth, on the same time as Kooij's team-mate Simon Yates in fifth, one minute and 11 seconds off pink.

Van Uden takes shock sprint win in fourth stage of Giro d'Italia

CNA

13-05-2025

Sport
CNA

Van Uden takes shock sprint win in fourth stage of Giro d'Italia

Casper van Uden of Team Picnic-PostNL sprang a surprise on stage four of the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday to claim the first Grand Tour victory of his career. The 23-year-old Dutchman dug deep to hold off compatriots Olav Kooij (Visma Lease a Bike) and Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor Pro Cycling) in a tense sprint finish, with the stage also marking the first-ever all-Dutch podium at the Giro. "I didn't do it alone – we did it with the whole team. All the boys here and all the staff here and in HQ as well. They did super work," said Van Uden, whose last win came at the ZLM Tour in June last year. "I didn't have to do anything until 200m to go. I have a good sprint and went for it. We've done a really good job all season with the leadouts. "I knew I had to just follow Bram (Welten) and the boys – they did a super good job and I'm really happy to give them something back. I'm not surprised and I know all the boys have a lot of belief in me." Van Uden's victory also provides a massive boost to Picnic-PostNL's hopes of remaining in the WorldTour, with the Dutch team facing the prospect of relegation. The stage, a flat 189-km ride from Alberobello to Lecce and the first stage this year to be held in Italy, began with a gutsy attack by Francisco Munoz of Polti VisitMalta. Munoz sped away from the peloton in the first few kilometres and persevered on his own for over 130km, but the Spaniard was reeled in with 56km to go and a bunch sprint became all but inevitable. Lidl-Trek's Mads Pedersen, who reclaimed the pink jersey with a sprint win in stage three on Sunday, had a challenging finish as he was slowed down by a crash which also took out teammate Kragh Andersen - one of his leadout riders. However, the Dane steadily worked his way to the front with the help of his team and was able to clinch a fourth-placed finish to comfortably retain the leader's jersey. "It was a hectic final, especially when the rest of the day was quite easy, but the final was really something special," Pedersen said. "Wide roads and narrow roads and so on. So a stressful day in the end, but all in all it was okay, we made it. And damage control on the points, so that's good." Second-placed Primoz Roglic (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) did manage to shrink the gap to seven seconds after earning a two-second bonus, while Pedersen's teammate Mathias Vacek is a further seven seconds behind in third.

Van Uden sprints to biggest win of his career on Giro's 4th stage, Pedersen keeps overall lead

Washington Post