"Isaac del Toro knows that he doesn’t stand a chance against Tadej Pogacar" - David Millar understands UAE loyalty of Mexican superstar

Isaac del Toro will arrive at his first Tour de France with a profile far beyond that of a standard mountain helper. The Mexican has already finished on a Grand Tour podium, won major stage races and emerged as one of the fastest-rising young riders in the sport. At almost any other team, Del Toro would be spoken about as a protected rider. At UAE Team Emirates - XRG, he plays second-fiddle behind Tadej Pogacar.

David Millar, a stage winner at all three Grand Tours and one of British cycling’s leading analysts, sees that as a consequence of Del Toro’s daily proximity to the Slovenian.

Ned Boulting, the long-time ITV cycling commentator, raised Del Toro’s place in the UAE line-up during a discussion with Millar on the For the Love of Cycling podcast. “The headline is Isaac del Toro for me, isn’t it? The fact that he is going to the Tour de France with Tadej Pogacar blows my mind,” Boulting said. “What are they going to do? Is he going to be Tadej Pogacar’s Rafal Majka? Is that it? Is that all he’s going to be?”

Rafal Majka was one of Pogacar’s most trusted mountain domestiques, capable of driving the pace deep into the hardest climbs before the Slovenian took over. Del Toro brings a very different profile. He is 22, already proven in Grand Tours, and still moving rapidly upwards.

Millar focused on what Del Toro sees inside UAE. “But Ned, this is the really crazy thing. Isaac del Toro knows that he doesn’t stand a chance against Tadej Pogacar. Del Toro trains with Pogacar, knows 100 percent, without a doubt, Tadej Pogacar is so much better than him,” Millar said.

Training alongside Pogacar gives Del Toro the most direct possible measure of the hierarchy. His Tour role may look strange from the outside, given his own results, but inside UAE the comparison is made every day.

Del Toro’s rise has made his place in the Tour team more than a simple domestique story. He has finished second overall at the Giro d’Italia, won major Italian one-day races and continued his rise in 2026 with overall victories at the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes.

Those results would put him at the centre of many WorldTour squads. At UAE, they give Pogacar another weapon. Boulting also raised the tactical possibility created by the early Pyrenees in this year’s Tour. “The Pyrenees come super soon, don’t they, in the Tour de France this year? What if he just attacks really early on?”

Del Toro could still spend the Tour as Pogacar’s luxury mountain domestique, the rider who stays deepest into the climbs before the Slovenian takes over. UAE could also use him more aggressively if the race opens early.

A rider with Del Toro’s engine and GC pedigree is not an ordinary satellite option. If he goes up the road, teams chasing Pogacar have to decide whether they are looking at a helper, a decoy or a rider dangerous enough to punish hesitation.

That is what makes his Tour debut so unusual. Del Toro may be good enough to lead almost anywhere, but at UAE he is riding alongside the one rider whose level still makes second place inside the team feel logical.