"I've never seen a maglia rosa wearer give up a Giro like that" - Richard Carapaz still outraged by Isaac del Toro
CyclingMonday, 16 June 2025 at 13:00
Richard Carapaz looked like the strongest man in the final week of the Giro d'Italia 2025. However, his lack of understanding with Isaac del Toro meant that he finished third in the final overall classification. Simon Yates took advantage of the shenanigans of the two Latin Americans and stole the maglia rosa in broad daylight.
Some time has passed, but the Ecuadorian winner of Giro 2019 is still visibly annoyed: "I'm not angry, but it's still hard for me to understand what happened. It was a strange situation," he tells Marca.
"I don't know, maybe you, who have seen a lot of races, can tell me if you've ever seen a maglia rosa wearer give up a Giro like that. Everyone plays with what they have, and they played their cards that way. That third place doesn't make much difference to me. I prefer to stay with the positive: to have fought again in a Grand Tour."
He still struggles to wrap his head around Del Toro's approach to the final day: "I'm still not clear on what happened, whether it was a decision by the UAE car or something Isaac decided on his own."
Isaac del Toro and Richard Carapaz finished 2nd and 3rd in the Giro d'Italia 2025
"I went back over the stage, and our plan as a team was to leave him without teammates from the start of the climb, to force a one-on-one. We succeeded. But then Yates came from behind, I plugged the gap, closed the gap again... And at a certain point I thought I couldn't take all the responsibility," Carapaz thinks back to the fateful Finestre.
"So I let him take the lead for a moment, but instead of doing that, he slowed down with me. It got to be uncomfortable. I even purposely stopped on purpose to get him to pass, but he didn't, he stayed with me holding back. And I wondered what was going on. We decided to give him a bit of a cushion to put pressure on him, but the gap went over two minutes, so I had to speed up again to try to get Del Toro to blow up or something."
Finally, Carapaz brought Del Toro back into a position where he could win the Giro. The two of them only needed to cooperate - but that didn't happen: "In the last four kilometers I climbed very hard, we managed to cut about 40 seconds, we crowned at 1:20. He said he wanted to wait for his team, but they were more than three minutes behind."
"I left everything ready for him, and when he wanted to collaborate it was too late. He told me: 'now we're going together', but by then the other one already had a five-minute lead and a very important teammate ahead of him. I told him it was too late."
"He became obsessed with me and I don't fully understand that. It was a strange strategy. A leader can't act like that, but well, everyone plays their own game. If it had gone wrong, I would have burst in Finestre, but it didn't happen. I put it on a plate. He only had to take care of the descent and the valley. He told me to collaborate when it was already useless: the other one had already left and he had Wout waiting for him up ahead."
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I can recall a TdF stage where Carapaz, Vingo and Pogi were at the head of the race. Carapaz feigned weakness and refused to take turn and then attacked at the end of the climb after both of them did the work. But he was caught up by Pogi and Vingo before they overtook him. It was so hilariously funny and I thought he deserved to lose. He's not a trustworthy person that you want to work with.
If you look at how Del Toro answered questions in the following interviews, you can tell that he knows his mistakes, but doesn't want to acknowledge them. @WoutVanAert could give him a lesson or two in that [concerning Dwaars door Vlaanderen]. Del Toro never answered the questions properly - he focused on why he didn't ride in the valley. What we want to know is why he didn't work on the climb. He did actually say he was on the limit, but no-one believes that.
IDT cared more about defending 2nd than defending 1st. The thought of coming in 3rd behind RC was a bigger loss to his ego than losing 1st to master Yates. IDT is a total dong.
IDT cared more about defending 2nd than defending 1st. The thought of coming in 3rd behind RC was a bigger loss to his ego than losing 1st to master Yates. IDT is a total dong.
I liked the way Del Toro raced, attractive and humble, up till the last day, where he should have gone for it.
2nd or 3rd they both are podiums and nobody remembers who was what.
Carapaz was leading the ascent, he should have lead the descent, that would have been a fantastic deal, considering he had most to lose. But he wanted more.
If you take the GC of the Giro d'italia 2025 only including Stages 16-21, you'll find that: Simon Yates was the fastest, Richard Carapaz was 2:56 slower, Giulio Pellizzari was 3:17 down, Isaac Del Toro was 5:16 behind, Derek Gee was at 5:49, Damiano Caruso was at 6:17, Einer Rubio was at 7:59, Brandon McNulty was at 8:32, while Michael Storer was at 8:42 and Egan Bernal rounded off the top ten, being 9:24 down and the last rider within 10 minutes. After that the gaps start to baloon, with Rafał Majka at 11:08, Max Poole at 13:34, Adam Yates at 18:16, Davide Piganzoli at 24:42, Nicholas Prodhomme at 28:31, then an almighty jump to Thomas Pidcock who was 42:23 down, then Antonio Tiberi at 46:02, James Knox at 46:25, with Romain Bardet at 49:15 and Diego Ulissi rounding off the top 20, at 57:39 down, being the last rider within 1hr.
Geraint Thomas was very surprised at UAE's obnoxiously foul tactics - "Speaking of BRAINFARTS..." he said. And very lethal brainfarts they were - Richie Carapaz got hit right in the face. Look at his expression when Del Toro asked him to ride - he was LIVID. Fortunately, Yatesy dodged the brainfarts... who knows what might have happened otherwise...
Geraint Thomas was very surprised at UAE's obnoxiously foul tactics. "Speaking of BRAINFARTS..." he said. And very lethal brainfarts they were; unfortunately Richie Carapaz got hit right in the face. Look at his face when Del Toro asked him to ride - Carapaz was LIVID. Fortunately Yatesy managed to dodge the brainfarts... who knows what could have happened?
"to force a one-on-one. We succeeded"... oh yes... a big success, because you were alone (no yates, no gee). Most stupid strategy of the year. At least Isaac is a boy... you a very experimented man (supposedly) .
Carapaz did what he always does: race against the guys he is with, even when it's against his own interest. He seems like an absolutely lovely guy off the bike, but he hasn't mastered the basic rule of cooperating at the front until everyone's chances have been improved, before attacking repeatedly. Carapaz has done this too many times for this to be on Del Toro.
I have to agree with Carapaz. It was a bit bizarre.
On the other hand Carapaz is famously bad at collaborating so he did bring it on himself a bit.
I’d chalk it up to inexperience on del Toro’s part, but why wasn’t he getting better advice from the car?
Still a fantastic Giro for the kid, just a shame to see it end with a whimper after he was such a fighter for the rest of the race.
Get over it.
He's a kid, you're not.
You have a problem with him being right ?
Doesn’t seem that way. Saying “get over it” doesn’t mean he isn’t right, it’s more of a move along. Maybe he should be questioning his own race more? Why did he let Yates do what he did. Why would del Toro in the leaders jersey drag Carapaz who is notorious for attacking from behind, up the road? Maybe he should ask del Toro? Maybe he didn’t have it in the tank and all he could do was try to hold on to Carapaz? Seems Carapaz is saying “I tried to break him, and then wondered why he couldn’t do more”. Maybe he answered his own question?
IDT didn't whine about losing the Giro.
Carapaz lost it, and hasn't stopped whining.
Funny how that’s lost on people who feel it’s about who’s right when there is no right or wrong, everyone was free to make their own choices.
That's because Del Toro purposefully gave the Giro away. Carapaz actually wanted to win. Sadly, some people have a problem with success
AND, why should Carapaz care if IDT lost his jersey in the first place, unless … he was planning to take advantage of the situation that didn’t materialise.