“All the peloton raced a little against us” - Mixed emotions for Isaac del Toro as Rainbow Jersey goes to UAE teammate but Mexico miss out on medal

Isaac del Toro could at least take some pleasure from seeing the rainbow jersey stay within UAE Team Emirates - XRG. For Mexico, though, that was hardly much consolation after arriving in Montreal believing they had a genuine chance of leaving with it themselves.

Brandon McNulty was the rider celebrating at the finish, while Del Toro came home fifth after an afternoon spent fighting his way back into a race that repeatedly threatened to get away from him. Mexico did not have the numbers enjoyed by several of the bigger nations, and their 22-year-old leader was often the man having to close the gaps himself.

“If all the peloton raced a little against us or used the fact we didn’t have the best team, I think we’re going to battle all the more next year,” Del Toro told ESPN MX afterwards.

Mexico had come to race aggressively around Del Toro rather than simply wait for the final laps. Once the World Championship began exploding from distance, however, that lack of numbers became harder and harder to hide.

The problems started long before McNulty launched the move that eventually won him the rainbow jersey. Mathieu van der Poel, Quinn Simmons, Primoz Roglic and others repeatedly found themselves up the road as the favourites began attacking with more than 80 kilometres still remaining. Del Toro had been expected to thrive as the climbing accumulated, but instead found himself using valuable energy trying to stop the race disappearing ahead of him.

“The moment where I wanted to ease back a bit to then get into full-on racing mode was just when I found myself in a very complicated situation,” he admitted.

There was not much easing back after that. Del Toro attacked on the climbs, chased dangerous groups and spent plenty of time in the wind as the front of the race split apart and came back together again. “I didn’t want the gold medal to get away from me,” he said.

The American strength in numbers became increasingly obvious as the afternoon wore on. McNulty, Simmons and Matteo Jorgenson all survived deep into the race, giving the United States several options while everyone knew where Mexico’s biggest threat was coming from.

Even so, Del Toro felt Mexico had shown something important in the way they approached their first serious tilt at a World Championship with him as one of the outright favourites. “We were very decisive and I’m happy with the race we did, we raced very well as a nation,” he said. “We didn’t win but we took a good step forward in terms of our group mentality and our ambitions for these kinds of races.”

When McNulty finally attacked with around 30 kilometres remaining, he quickly pushed his advantage beyond a minute. The chase behind never found much rhythm, with different national and trade-team interests coming into play, while Del Toro had already spent much of the race responding to earlier threats.

Still, as McNulty began to tire on the last lap and his lead suddenly tumbled, Del Toro was there again with a chance of leaving Montreal with a medal.

McNulty found enough to survive, while Michael Matthews and Van der Poel sprinted to silver and bronze 13 seconds later. Simmons took fourth, with Del Toro crossing the line another second behind in fifth.

After everything it had taken just to stay in the fight, Del Toro was still looking back at the final kilometres and wondering whether he could have squeezed something more out of them.

“I think it was clear that we came to win, I left it all out there, we tried everything, maybe I should have positioned myself better for that final sprint,” he said. “So I’m satisfied with the effort, but I’m not happy at all. I’m not settling for this at all. We knew we could win and it’s a pity I didn’t do it.”

McNulty winning at least made the outcome a little easier to take on a personal level. Del Toro knows the American from UAE and was pleased for his teammate, even if that was a very different emotion from the one he was feeling in Mexican colours. “I could be arrogant and say I want the rainbow for me,” he said. “But even if I’m happy for him because I know him a bit, I also know that Mexico came here to win.”

Then came the reminder of just how much this World Championship had meant back home. Mexican supporters had been out in force around Montreal, and the chants of “Torito, Torito” continued as Del Toro walked across to greet them after the finish.

“We’ve received an incredible amount of support, they didn’t deserve anything less than a gold medal,” he said. “That’s what we came for, and that’s what we tried to get.”

Del Toro had fifth place, a UAE teammate wearing the rainbow jersey and plenty of evidence that Mexico can now arrive at races like this expecting to be involved. As the crowds continued chanting his nickname around the finish, however, the medal he had spent all afternoon fighting for was already gone.