"I'm super happy, but I also have mixed feelings" - Isaac del Toro following victory on Tirreno-Adriatico's queen stage

After six days of racing there has been little to no doubt on who was the dominating figure of Tirreno-Adriatico. Whilst Mathieu van der Poel did win two stages, Isaac del Toro was the strongest figure on all three days that were key to the overall classification. He has virtually sealed his overall win this afternoon in Camerino.

The UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider jumped into the race lead on stage 2 after thriving in the sterrato finale and finishing second despite the amount of work he did in the group together with Mathieu van der Poel and Giulio Pellizzari.

Two days later he lost the race lead to the Italian when he mistimed his sprint and then saw his rival take bonus seconds, but returned to the lead the next day as the riders faced a difficult finale. He looked rather safe into today's queen stage, although plenty riders were not far in the GC and could have put pressure on him in a day with almost 4000 meters of climbing.

However that was not the case, and he only had to focus on the final climb of the day where he would be going all-out. There however, Pellizzari attacked twice to try and take back the 23 seconds he had back on the Mexican. It was a tactic that would never work in a regular day without risk, and so the last attack came in the flat section of the final ascent.

Del Toro did not respond, instead looking to follow wheels behind, in time for the final ramp that went up to 20%. Asked if he was confident he would bring Pellizzari back, Del Toro responded. “Not sure, because it was super hard and I know he’s super strong, so I just wanted to keep in mind that we can’t let him go super far away".

“So I just tried to pull him back, but it was super, super tough.” However it was a successful chase and without a doubt he would've made it, as the gap between the two at the finish line was of 9 seconds, in favour of Del Toro.

The Mexican was still attacked by Matteo Jorgenson in the final 500 meters, but responded comfortably and then sprinted to stage win. For Del Toro, it is another successful week with another World Tour stage-race win (two out of two this season), and a win in the race's blue jersey.

“I'm super happy, but I also have mixed feelings," he admits however. "It's just pretty strange, but this is just for the guys and the staff. They did all the job, and I'm super proud to be here". Tomorrow's stage to San Benedetto del Tronto has traps and carries the risk of crashes, so he did not want to celebrate yet.

“In the last few years I have been here, it was like this, so let’s see how it is, but I want to be attentive and secure the job," he concluded.