"He was just going, he's excited" - UAE DS on Isaac del Toro's start to Giro second week

Isaac del Toro is on stellar form and at this Giro d'Italia he has been on the attack despite his advantagious position in the overall classification. UAE Team Emirates - XRG DS Fabio Baldato has run through stage 11 including the Mexican's attack and why the tram did not put attack Primoz Roglic - despite the major numbers advantage.

"We wanted the break to arrive. For us it was good, we let it go, it was going out to three minutes, but then Trek decided to close," Baldato described in words to Cyclingnews. "I know if you slow down too much, somebody starts to attack again, but for us it was fine. It wasn't really that good a break and then we take a risk at the end". 

Richard Carapaz attacked on the final climb and went off the front for an impressive solo victory. Behind UAE controlled the pace, Isaac del Toro attacked and then stopped, whilst Juan Ayuso and Primoz Roglic were both slightly distanced. The team then worked all the way into the sprint, not using Brandon McNulty and Adam Yates for any tactical moves but instead putting them in the wind to control the gap.

"In the end, they tried, they closed, chapeau to Carapaz, he did a really great move. We just tried to close it, not let it go too much. Maybe if we were more aggressive, we would have been able to win the stage with Del Toro, but that was not really the idea – we wanted to go through without problem."

"Teamwork was amazing on the climb, even after [the attack, we were] all together on the front. We are good. Mainly, it was the race we expected, it was going better than expected, and what happened in the end was what we knew would happen if it all came together".

Baldato also commented on the Mexican's attack, which did not manage to close down the gap on Del Toro and stimulated some chaos on the final climb. "He's a young guy. It's not that he closed the gap by himself, he was just going, he's excited, we cannot control everything, also because in the car we understand only 20 seconds late, so it's not that he was closing it down".

"We still had Majka, we still had Brandon McNulty, we still had Adam Yates, for us it's also good that Carapaz won the stage". Definitely an unusual statement, taking into consideration that Del Toro was second in the sprint, and would've likely won the stage in the pink jersey if it weren't for Carapaz' gap.

"We took second in the end, Del Toro was behind, gaining six seconds on the others, so at the end of the day we are satisfied with what happened."