"He lost the Giro, he didn't know how to race well" - Richard Carapaz has no pity for Isaac del Toro after Finestre showdown
CyclingSunday, 01 June 2025 at 10:56
A very disappointed Richard Carapaz was quick to respond to a few questions asked of him after the finish of stage 20 at the Giro d'Italia. The Ecuadorian tried to win the race, but finished third. He was in no mood to make friends in a finale where he clashed directly with Isaac Del Toro.
EF Education-EasyPost deployed all of their resources to position themselves well at the base of the Colle delle Finestre, and launch a brutal collective acceleration right at the base of the 1-hour long climb. It was a risky tactic, but aimed at wearing down Del Toro who seemed to struggle on stage 16's long efforts.
However Carapaz could not distance the Mexican, despite attacking at least a dozen times. The former Olympic Champion did everything he could to make the difference, but simultaneously none had the legs to follow Simon Yates who launched a devastating attack and went on to conquer the Giro.
After Finestre Carapaz refused to work with Del Toro, and right after the finish his discontent with the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider seemed clear: "We could have been the strongest, but the smartest guy won."
Asked directly about whether Isaac del Toro could have done something different, such as working with him on Finestre, Carapaz didn't hesitate and made it clear that he believed the Mexican had got the race strategy completely wrong: "In the end he lost the Giro, I think he didn't know how to ride well and in the end the smartest guy won."
The duo completely stopped on the road and waited for the groups coming from behind, and ultimately arrived at the finish together. Carapaz will be settling with a third spot on the final podium, one below the rider who he tried to dethrone throughout the whole week.
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Yates led by 1:40 over the top of the final climb which in theory should have been easy to recover except for Wout the hero. Wout won it for Yates by pulling himself inside out through the valley!
The DS's of both UAE and EF should have been yelling at their riders to not let Yates get away knowing that Wout was waiting on the downhill.
Exactly, and most comments and commentators are always quick to point at the riders but riders are cooked and focused on riding, at many moments they aren’t capable of stringing together three sets of constantly changing variables into a logical strategical decision for change of tactics, that’s why they have earpieces and race directors who see the global picture, how it’s evolving and who have the luxury of being able to extrapolate what will happen if this or that and SHOULD be instructing riders how to continue. Maybe the day will come when like in F1 viewers (or just premium ones) will get to listen in on the chatter?
I think they tried that in TdF. Visma was not happy that some strategic communications was leaked or something like that. It wasn't compulsory for every team to join. Did they stop it last year? I don't recall hearing radio communication last year.
Yeah, I have a vague memory of something like that but it will happen for sure, no matter how much cycling fans can tolerate boredom, the fight for viewers dictates that the content becomes ever more juicy, and as it’s hard to insert cheerleaders or handicaps, this is one of the few options available, they'll just wait until Visma have less clout because all the nation sponsors are never going to be against anything that could monetise the sport.
Del Toro should never have followed Carapaz initial attack and instead have his team around him to set a hard temp on an hour long climb to reel him back in. His youth and enthusiasm weren't good for tactics that were needed to win ! UAE also failed him with their so called 'strong team' not being there on the climb anywhere!
Richie, Richie, more self criticism: Spending all your team launching an attack AT THE BASE OF A 1 HOUR LONG HARD CLIMB, it's not very intelligent and doesn't indicate that you are a genius of the strategy... and you are 32 years old against a 21 y.o. boy.
I'd say the same about Carapaz, he didn't know how to race well and let Yates go when he could have latched on to his wheel. Del Toro made a mistake but honestly they probably though Yates would come back to them. Missed opportunity for del Toro and Carapaz, but del Toro is 21 and still learning, Carapaz is 32 and probably doesn't have many more chances at another grand tour win. I'm happy for all of them being on the podium and really happy for Yates as he takes his second grand tour, del Toro will have his day soon enough.
Sour grapes!
I would say the same logic applies to Carapaz. But what's worse is in losing, he's being very ungracious to an inexperienced youngster.
Isaac del Toro = what a tosser, again Ayuso screws up a race and now they've lost the Giro, Pog don't take the shit from Juan Ayuso!
The root cause of all problems still remains Ayuso🤣🤣🤣
Obviously! 😁😁😁😁
No, the root problem is UAE management, no better than Visma really.