OPINION | UAE will regret leaving Isaac del Toro at home for the Tour de France

The first rest day of the 2025 Tour de France has arrived, and with ten stages in the books, the outlines of the race are becoming clearer. One of the sharpest contrasts so far is the gulf between UAE Team Emirates - XRG and Team Visma | Lease a Bike when it comes to depth in the mountains. For all of Tadej Pogacar’s brilliance, and his 1:17 lead over Jonas Vingegaard, mostly thanks to the Dane’s sub-par time trial in Caen, it’s the support squads that are beginning to tell a different story.

The loss of Joao Almeida has exposed just how thin UAE are behind their star. Adam Yates has stepped up again as the most reliable lieutenant, and Marc Soler remains dependable, but beyond that, the cupboard looks worryingly bare. Pavel Sivakov is struggling, Tim Wellens is not a high-mountain specialist, and it’s hard to ignore the glaring absence of Isaac del Toro.

Leaving the Mexican climber off the Tour squad was a decision that may already be haunting UAE.

Del Toro emerged as one of the revelations of the 2025 Giro d’Italia. Tasked initially with supporting Juan Ayuso and Adam Yates, he nearly flipped the script and won the entire race. A mistimed effort on the Colle delle Finestre cost him the maglia rosa, but his performance marked him as a future Grand Tour contender, and, more relevantly, a ready-made elite domestique.

He’s already put that Giro disappointment behind him. Just last week, Del Toro dominated the Tour of Austria, winning three stages and the overall in emphatic style. He looked fresh, confident, and completely recovered from the brutal racing in Italy.

His form is undeniable. And unlike Almeida, Del Toro hadn’t crashed or lost fitness. The idea that UAE needed to “protect” him by keeping him away from the Tour is less compelling when you remember that both Adam and Simon Yates rode the Giro as well, and they’re now among the most decisive figures in France.

Simon Yates not only won the Giro, he just took a major mountain stage at the Tour on stage 10. He’ll be the key to Vingegaard’s support system once the Alps arrive. Meanwhile, UAE are relying on Adam Yates and a tired Marc Soler to match Visma’s depth, a task that’s looking more and more difficult with each summit finish.

There’s no doubting UAE’s long-term investment in Del Toro, and giving him space to develop, away from the Tour’s spotlight, isn’t without logic. Just think, it was only last year when Remco Evenepoel finally made his Tour debut.

But this Tour isn’t a long-term project. It’s a live, high tension battle between two super teams, and so far, one of them showed up with everything. The other left its most promising mountain asset at home.

Last year, Pogacar was supposed by Yates, Almeida and Ayuso for the mountain stages. Yes, Ayuso was forced to go home early due to injury, but that still left Pogacar with Almeida and Yates, who finished 4th and 6th in the GC respectively. Yates has not yet shown himself to be in that sort of form this year, but all will be revealed when the mountains truly begin.

But with Vingegaard supported by Simon Yates, Jorgenson and Kuss, all GC contenders in their own right, one imagines there will come a point over the next 2 weeks where Pogacar may have to face the same scenario we saw in 2022.

Del Toro’s omission might not sink Pogacar’s chances, he’s still the strongest rider in the race, but it’s a self-inflicted handicap that could prove costly as the race hits the Pyrenees. If UAE lose control when it matters most, they’ll have to ask themselves if they got it wrong not in the race, but before it even began.