Adam Blythe: "Isaac del Toro is a younger version of Tadej Pogacar"

UAE Team Emirates - XRG have undoubtedly been the strongest team of the 2025 Giro d'Italia so far. With four riders in the top 10 of the general classification after 10 stages, it is the 21-year-old Mexican Isaac del Toro who leads the way in the Maglia Rosa, with ex-pro turned expert Adam Blythe seeing comparisons between Del Toro and the 2024 Giro d'Italia winner, Tadej Pogacar.

"I think for the team it's generally easier to manage him [Del Toro], I think it's just hard to hold him back in racing. When you've got good legs like he had two days ago, trying to keep a rider like that under control can be very difficult," analyses the former British national champion on The Breakaway for TNT Sports. "I think compared to Juan Ayuso, Ayuso seems a lot more calculated and a lot more of a Grand Tour rider, whereas Del Toro is, for me, a younger version of Tadej Pogacar."

"He just wants to go, go, go and feel his way around the bunch. I think it's interesting what he said in his interview when he said, 'I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, we'll see what happens'," Blythe continues. "He's a bike racer, I think he wants to get stuck in."

Given that UAE came into the Giro d'Italia with a two-pronged leadership attack of Ayuso and Adam Yates though, the role that Del Toro will play in the fight for the Maglia Rosa isn't totally clear yet. "As long as he doesn't really put Ayuso out the back, I can imagine he'll just go for it tomorrow (stage 11), and why not?" Blythe says. "He's in pink, he wants to enjoy it, which he clearly is, but I don't think he's just sitting back and going, 'He's the leader'. I think he'll have a point to prove and say, 'I'm in this jersey for a reason, back me and watch what I can do.'"