“He was going to attack me again” - Finn Fisher-Black reveals tactical stand-off with Isaac Del Toro at Gran Piemonte
Cycling
Finn Fisher-Black has opened up on the tactical tension inside his late Gran Piemonte escape with Isaac Del Toro, admitting that the defending champion's aggression left him wary of committing fully before the pair were eventually caught.
Del Toro launched the most dangerous move of the race on the final ascent of La Morra, around 18 kilometres from the finish in Bra. Fisher-Black was the only rider initially able to follow, and although the New Zealander was briefly distanced near the summit, he fought his way back before the pair opened an advantage of around 30 seconds.
Their move was eventually neutralised shortly before the final kilometre, with Dorian Godon going on to win the reduced sprint ahead of Anthon Charmig and Alberto Bettiol.
Speaking to Cycling Pro Net afterwards, Fisher-Black admitted Del Toro had been the obvious rider to mark when the attacks began. “It's a pretty obvious wheel to pick to sit on, Isaac,” he said. “I knew he looked like he wanted to try, so I was just sitting on his wheel and it was definitely the right one. I could jump straight when he went.”
That read put Fisher-Black in position to respond, although matching Del Toro once he accelerated pushed him immediately towards his limit. “I was on the limit to get on his wheel when he attacked, but made it there and then he kept pushing me all the way to the top,” Fisher-Black continued.
With a sizeable advantage established, the two strong time triallists briefly had an opportunity to turn the attack into the winning move. “I think we had a good gap on the top, but it was always going to be hard once the group got organised,” he said. “They came back pretty quickly in the end.”
“I need to take advantage a little bit here”
The cooperation between the pair was complicated by Del Toro attacking Fisher-Black again near the top of La Morra. “I was willing to work, but then he attacked me on the top of the climb,” Fisher-Black explained. “I was on the limit to come back to him and then I was like, ‘Okay, he's going to attack me again at the end, so I need to take advantage a little bit here.’”
Rather than immediately matching Del Toro turn for turn once he regained contact, Fisher-Black began thinking about what might happen if the pair reached the finish together. “So I sat on him for a bit,” he added. “I think by the time I started to pull it was too late already.”
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Behind them, Team Jayco AlUla and NSN Cycling Team were among those contributing to the pursuit as the gap began to fall. What had been around half a minute inside the final 10 kilometres disappeared as the race approached Bra, with Del Toro and Fisher-Black swallowed up before the sprint began.
The catch denied Del Toro the chance to become the first rider since Philippe Gilbert in 2010 to win Gran Piemonte in consecutive years. Fisher-Black, meanwhile, was left with the knowledge that he had picked the right wheel and made the decisive move, only for the tactical battle between the two escapees to make an already difficult task against the organised chase even harder.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- UAE was really badly positioned at the last climb, and Ineos did a great job of making that happen at the bottom. That must have affected del Toro and the rest. His attack wasn't spectacular, and they hadn't ripped apart the bunch enough, letting a large group remain in back to reel him in. UAW lost the race on the road to the climb and the bottom third of it, I think.RidesHills08-10-2026
- He won in exactly the same way as others. By being the fastest to complete the stages.mobk08-10-2026
- Very surprised del toro couldn't beat everyone here against lesser competition. He's well on his way to being top 5 in the worldbruins3008-10-2026
- Being the best rider left in the race is pretty much the only way to win in any edition, surely? Seems reductive to say "they only won because the entire peloton wasn't as absolutely stacked as it could've been" - you can only beat who is in front of you.wrsty08-10-2026
- I’m sorry but generally the coverage on your site is first class but this incident highlights something I just don’t get with cycling journalism. This accident should never have been allowed to happen, it comes uncomfortably close to the Finlay Tarling tragedy and two other incidents took place within days of this. I checked all of the cycling websites and you all put out basically the same story. Pidcock gave journalists the perfect opening to blow this sky high, what has the UCI got to say? What is Adam Hansen doing? What do the organisers say? Nothing, you all trot out the same easy quotes taken from Pidcocks interview after the race but do nothing to follow it up. I see it time and time again, journalists taking the easy way out but being outraged when it happens again as it surely will. Riders can’t do this but journalists should be independent and should be able to raise these uncomfortable questions but cyclinguptodate and every other on line publication prefer to take the easy way out. That’s the real tragedy here.Paul53108-10-2026
- Happy to help :-)Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- Well, ok but, it’s also a structural, team, budgeting, direction and all sorts of other issueMistermaumau08-10-2026
- I wouldn’t call it an analogy but maybe his criticism is a little unfair. On the other hand, the fact Cicco made a public affair out of it despite having received all the explanations and proof makes me feel he now deserves being criticised for not accepting there is nothing to discuss.Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- Much as I like him (one of my favourites), I do want to attract a little attention to the coincidence of his recent performances in the current context. Not the first time a rider improves noticeably when there’s a job interview to prepare. In the same lighthearted humour of his, i hope the UCI will let him wear it at home as the rules quite strictly state you can only wear it during participation in the discipline you won in, and we all know how capable they are of interpreting rule interpretation ;-) Also, if it’s going to be retirement (please not), I wouldn’t call that an agreement as somebody will probably feel they didn’t get what they wanted.Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- Agreed. There used to be a team willing to pay though. I take all these figures (that vary enormously according to who is publishing) with handfuls of salt. We don’t know how salaries are treated (especially between a UK employer and Andorran resident), we don’t know how numbers are derived and from where, if deductions have been taken into consideration, etc. but if he returns to Colombia, he’s going to need quite a bit in protection money.Mistermaumau08-10-2026
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