After the strangest, and perhaps most stupid, tactics by Isaac del Toro and, especially, those in the UAE Team Emirates-XRG team car, the young Mexican rider got into a stand-off with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) on the penultimate stage of the Giro d’Italia and threw away overall victory.
Del Toro’s apparent obsession with racing against, and closely marking, only Carapaz allowed Simon Yates (Visma Lease a Bike) go up the road solo a long way from the finish and climb his way to Giro victory. Though nothing can take from the bravery and athleticism of Yates – who really seized his chance – del Toro’s and his team’s tactics were the stuff of nightmare.
Both he and his team management appeared to bank on the fact Carapaz would take up the chase and tow del Toro in a bid to protect his 2nd place overall. Incredibly, even after the finish of stage 20 to Sestrière, del Toro seemed to be defending the tactic, suggesting that, unlike Carapaz, at least he had not lost 2nd place on the race.
He seemed oblivious to the fact what could be the best chance of his career to win a Grand Tour had been thrown away over mind games with Carapaz. He also seem oblivious to the fact Carapaz had already won a Grand Tour and cared little today about whether he would finish 2nd or 3rd overall at this Giro.
When Yates went away, attacking with 13km remaining to the top of Colle delle Finestre, it initially arguably fell to Carapaz to chase. He had started the day in 2nd place, some 43 seconds down on del Toro, with Yates in 3rd at 1:21.
Carapaz’s team had drilled it into the base of the climb, with Irish road race champion Darren Rafferty doing a huge turn immediately the gradient kicked up and ripping the main field to shreds.
And it was the former Olympic road race champion, Carapaz, who attacked on the lower slopes; dropping both del Toro and Yates. However, after del Toro caught him, the duo then started locking horns, slowing and letting Yates back on.
When the attack later came from Yates, Carapaz at one stage closed him to a matter of seconds. But del Toro refused to close the remainder; riding in the belief he only had to mark Carapaz and not Yates. Both Carapz and del Toro at times slowed down so much on the penultimate and final climb that domestiques who had long been dropped – including from UAE – caught them.
When Yates pulled out a gap that was so big, and growing, it put him in the virtual race lead, del Toro began to chase, looking for help from Carapaz.
They were speaking to each other at times and now del Toro has revealed what was said, revealing he believed he was getting one over on Carapaz by still finishing ahead of him on GC; 2nd behind Yates, with Carapaz in 3rd.
“When Yates went, and he’s 3rd (overall), Richard needed to follow him,” de Toro said. “I think it’s OK, I have 1:20 on Simon… (so I can) let him go and then start to work because it’s better for Richard and for me (to) work together when it’s (the gap to Yates) 1:20.
“I talked with him and I said ‘now is the moment, if you want to help it’s OK. But I don’t work alone and then on the last climb you can come and just pass me because 40 seconds is nothing’.
“And he just told me ‘OK, now no, because you don’t help me (when we were) at 20 seconds’. And I said ‘OK, if I lose already the GC, I don’t lose the 2nd place’.”
Del Toro said he “wanted to be smart” – something he clear needs to work at – when the attacks were going from Carapaz and Yates on the early slopes of the climb as they had an hour of climbing ahead of them.
“There’s no sense to push 1,000 watts and then stop,” he said, adding that was why he let gaps open when the accelerations happened before closing them gradually.
He added when Yates got to the top of the climb – before the descent and then moving to to the final climb of Sestrière – he pushed on the descent and also worked in the valley. But he said Carapaz refused to cooperate with him in the valley.
“I tried to change (work) with him and he just said ‘no’ and I said ‘OK, but I cannot put you (to within) one minute with Simon and then you attack me and you win Giro’.”
He said at that point “everyone was playing” but Visma-Lease a Bike “rode really well”. with Wout van Aert (Visma Lease a Bike) was up the road in the early breakaway. He dropped back to wait for Yates, then towed him in the valley and onto the slops of the final climb, pushing Yates’s advantage to about six minutes on del Toro and Carapaz.
“We tried to play as well and that’s it,” said del Toro. “Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”
When asked if he could have win the Giro, again he did not seem to understand how close he was today. He said when he looked as his performances over the duration of race, “now I start to believe I can do it” and that “maybe yes” he was capable of winning the race.
“I cannot believe I’m this guy, because it was super hard,” he said of having ridden the Giro – leading for 11 stages – as a contender to win.
Today, Chirs Harper (Jayo AlUla) won the stage solo from the breakaway; crossing the line 1:49 up on fellow breakaway man Alessandro Verre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels). Yates was next, at 1:57.
The del Toro and Carapaz group were over five minutes down. Top top a day of nonsense from del Toro and his team, the young Mexican rider attacked the group just before the finish to make sure of 9th place on the stage, some 7:10 down on the winner, with Carapaz in 14th at 7:14.
In the general standings, with just the sprinters stage in Rome to come, Yates leads the race by 3:56 from del Toro with Carapaz in 3rd at 4:43.
