Results Giro dell'Emilia | Isaac del Toro beats Tom Pidcock to defend Tadej Pogacar's title

UAE Team Emirates - XRG are unstoppable, and they have taken yet another win today. The Giro dell'Emilia saw a solo win from Tadej Pogacar last year, but this time around it was a much more difficult task. However, Isaac del Toro looked to be the strongest on the day and beat Tom Pidcock in a tense finale to take another win in an incredibly successful season finale.

The Italian classic began with a group of six: Three of the riders were from Team Picnic PostNL in Enzo Leijnse, Gijs Leemreize and Jacob Bush, joined by Sinuhé Fernández and Pablo García. An ambitious group, but one whose ambitions were never realistically good. The last of the survivors, Bush and Leemreize were caught with 40 kilometers to go.

UAE entered the circuit around the Madonna di San Luca in front, with Adam Yates launching an attack in the third of five laps, a strong one that shred the group to bits. It would come back together but only about a dozen riders resisted in front, with Jay Vine keeping the pace high for UAE and keep the gaps to those behind open.

However in the penultimate lap right from the bottom Cian Uijtdebroeks launched a big attack, followed by Lenny Martínez - two of the riders who followed Yates in the previous lap - with UAE being unable to respond. However Tom Pidcock put in a strong move behind, followed by the likes of Isaac del Toro, Primoz Roglic and Michael Storer following. The group got back together and the pace slowed down again.

In the final hilltop before the final ascent Richard Carapaz, previously dropped, attacked, splitting the group but unsuccessfully breaking away. Rudy Molard got a gap right before the final climb, closed by Cian Uijtdebroeks who exposed himself quite a lot, but in the first steep ramps of San Luca Tom Pidcock attacked and got a gap of several seconds over his rivals. It seemed like a winning move but in the toughest ramp of the climb Isaac del Toro jumped from behind and closed the gap.

It was going to be a battle between the two in a final sprint, with Del Toro launching first and then riding to victory ahead of the Briton. Lenny Martínez sprinted to third place from behind.