“On the Mortirolo I did not panic" - Isaac del Toro shows maturity beyond his years to take first Grand Tour stage win

Has Isaac del Toro just done enough to secure the overall victory at the 2025 Giro d'Italia? The Mexican pushed back the rising hopes of his rivals on stage 17 to storm to his first ever Grand Tour stage win and increase his overall race lead.

That's not say it was an easy day for the UAE Team Emirates - XRG prodigy though. In fact, earlier in the day, Del Toro looked in real difficulty on the Mortirolo climb as Richard Carapaz mounted his own potential Maglia Rosa winning charge. Although Del Toro was gapped at the top of the climb, the 21-year-old led the GC group's chase of Carapaz on the descent, eventually bringing back the Ecuadorian former Giro d'Italia winner. Then, on the final climb of the day, Del Toro made his own move and although Carapaz followed, a second acceleration from the Maglia Rosa inside the final 2km saw his solo all the way to the stage win, and perhaps more importantly, 10 bonus seconds for the general classification standings.

“Today I realized I would never give up and I have nothing to lose,” Del Toro commented after crossing the winning line on stage 17, showing maturity far beyond his years. “On the Mortirolo I did not panic and we had the plan to attack on the final climb.”