UAE DS reveals communication with Isaac del Toro on Finestre: "We tried to encourage him to keep an eye on Yates as well"
CyclingThursday, 05 June 2025 at 09:02
Isaac del Toro could almost feel the trophy for winner of Giro d'Italia in the palm of his hand. But then he and then Richard Carapaz suddenly gifted the victory to Simon Yates. In the descent from Colle delle Finestre and subsequent valley, the Visma rider gained four minutes and the race was over while Del Toro and Carapaz kept looking at each other. What was going on in UAE Team Emirates - XRG team car?
"We clearly underestimated Simon (Yates, ed.), he was exceptional on Saturday," DS Fabio Baldato tells TuttoBiciWeb. "The instructions were to always follow Carapaz. Isaac responded well to that, and that is also positive. Simon was smart: he rode his own pace and then anticipated by playing the two off against each other."
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As the two stared at each other, Simon Yates suddenly disappeared from their reach: "Unfortunately, that's how it happened. Of course, when Simon started to gain a 20 to 30 second lead and Van Aert was in front of him as a support, we were a bit worried. Isaac stayed on Carapaz's wheel and the two started looking at each other, you know how it is. Meanwhile, Simon just kept pushing at the front."
Of course the men in team car didn't sit idly as all of that was happening, but there was only as much they could've done about it. "Halfway up the climb we tried to encourage him to keep an eye on Yates as well. We only did that once, also because he is the one on the bike - he knows his legs. His goal was to go up with Carapaz. He chose to save his strength for the end. So let's say: in the end it was a decision that Isaac made himself."
"Afterwards you think: 'If only I had told him one more time to go, to chase...' Yes, that still gnaws at you. You know how it is: afterwards it is easy to analyse and judge. He knew how much energy he still had, how his legs felt. And above all: let's not forget, he is young."
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From what I can gather, seems the DS had drilled into Del Toro before the race and again at the start of the long climb that he must mark Carapaz. Imperfect info made it difficult for the DS to directly tell Del Toro to close on Yates before the end of the climb, so it was mostly left to Del Toro's unexperienced judgement, who may have been near his limit anyways. In the end, probably either one could have lead the chase, but then would have come in third, while helping the other to first. Great execution of a great plan by Visma in Wout getting on top of the climb in advance and Yates being able to get that separation that caused the stalemate behind him. Also, in hindsight, big mistake by both EF and UAE in letting the break and Wout get so far out.
I think Del Toro was tired, and he was probably going to lose the Giro anyway on that long climb. But he had the privilege of choosing which one was going to win: Yates or Carapaz. If he followed Yates, Carapaz would get his free ride up, then attack at the end. If he followed Carapaz, Yates was going to run off like he did.
The last post is spot on.....the UAE team had the resposibility of straightening their boy, seeing as he was letting a giro he had in the bag go up the road. Remember Yates was virtual leader by only about 17 seconds at the top of Finestre so that giro was still salvageable even if Yates linked with Wout, they still had Sestriere to cut into Yates's lead if they had not brought him back at that point. So yes...UAE DS blew it.
Del Toro has said that he was one major push from Carapaz away from giving up and letting go of the wheel. But, at the right moment for del Toro, Carapaz stopped pushing. So, del Toro is in his rights to recognize that he wasn't actually able to chase Yates down - he didn't have the legs. There was that moment when the two were tantalizingly close to Yates, but del Toro trying to close the gap would have given them the opportunity to 1-2 punch him again. It would have worked, given that he was tired, and then Carapaz likely would have won the Giro. Basically, the moment del Toro let either one of them go forward, he was going to lose the Giro. He had no chance, at his strength level. All of it comes down to the fact that he has said that he didn't have the legs.
They were only 1:40 behind Yates at the summit and could have chased on teh descent and in the valley regardless of Wout ! He didn't lose the Giro only on the climb.
Given that Carapaz's behavior was in retaliation for del Toro's on the climb, I'd say that he did lose the race entirely on the climb - but the consequences took some time to be clear.
Don't think Carapaz and Del Toro could have reeled him back in once Yates got to Wout; too big of an engine. The lead would have been stretched long enough to prevent them from closing the gap at the end.
NO WAY UAE told anything to Del Toro about Simon Yates. Carapaz was the main focus and I'm confident UAE told Del Toro to stay calm and focus on his main rival only. This was the result.
It was just the most bizarre'ist thing I've ever seen, thought the Visma Vuelta debacle was something but this will stand for a good time...
There is no universe in which taking all three podium spots at a Grand Tour is a "debacle." It is one of the great triumphs of modern cycling. I'm not sure it even hastened the end of Rog's time at TJV. He wasn't happy with the way things went at that Vuelta, but that's not why he left. He left because Jonas was the two-time defending TDF champion, and there was no way he was getting top billing any more.
What UAE did was a debacle, and their response to it - basically throwing Del Toro under the bus - is worse. Just a stunning misplay on Finestre, and an even more stunning misplay in the media since then.
The 2023 Vuelta was becoming a PR debacle for Visma, as Jonas followed Roglic on Stage 17 and almost wiped out Kuss's lead, just 8 seconds between Kuss and Jonas. But after listening to the fans they threw their weight behind Kuss and turned it into a PR success.
100%. The "debacle" of deciding which of your three riders is going to win is much different and way better than the debacle of losing the Giro with a whimper on the last competitive stage.
I totally agree that the way UAE lost this Giro was terrible. Maybe Visma at the Vuelta is not the best comparison. (That Vuelta was more as if Pog had unexpectedly started this Giro but been too sick for two weeks to compete with Ayuso or surprise leader Del Toro, then over three stages raced back to almost take the lead)
MR - I'm not taking issue with the details just the overall factors involved 👍
It was the penultimate stage. Everyone was tired, all 3 of them. There was no way Yates could have been that much stronger than either Del Toro or Carapaz, and that was obvious from the previous stage. To top it off, Del Toro had a lead of a minute and 20 on Yates. It was a long climb, but Yates would have had to be superman to overcome even just a one minute lead on such a climb. Even with Van Aert helping Yates on the descent, there was virtually little chance that Del Toro could have lost his commanding lead. The only way that things would have turned out the way it did is if Del Toro gave up fighting before he had lost the maglia rosa, either because he had nothing more to give or convinced he had lost.. It was wrong for him to think that he had already lost the maglia rosa, and was just doing his best not to lose 2nd place. The UAE DS should have insisted that he go after Yates as best he could when it became apparent that Carapaz can not drop him, even with Carapaz on his tail. He should have shifted his focus from Carapaz to Yates at that point, and pushed as hard as he can the way he did on a previous stage where he was dropped but eventually kept the maglia rosa by a slim margin. He should have won, but hindsight is always 20/20, and all of this is water under the bridge. Outstanding Giro drama, and all 3 deserve huge congratulations.
1. What happened on Finestre is almost entirely the fault of the team directors for UAE and EF. Yes, the riders have a say, but both teams allowed their riders to get locked into a lunatic stare down while the race went up the road. Both team cars should have seen what was happening and *ordered* their riders to snap out of it.
2. As for Wout, I think you underestimate the threat he represented. If Yates had gone over the top with almost any gap at all, once he got on Wout's wheel that lead was in peril. We've seen him do that very thing before, notably stage 5 2022 TDF, when he pulled nearly a minute back on Pog after Jonas had the bike fiasco. Again, that is why what happened is on the DS for UAE and EF. Their job is to see the situation for what it is, and they both should have known better than to let Wout get 10 minutes in the first place.
I just simply don't believe team orders were at fault. In what world would a pink jersey leader knowingly throw away their lead just to follow team orders? Del Toro surely knew the gap to Yates was growing and he was going to lose his lead. So either Del Toro didn't have the legs or he was stupid and listened to alleged team orders to only follow Carapaz.
It simply does not make sense - I mean even if the team orders were true, Del Toro shouldn't take it literally e.g. if Carapaz crashed and all the other top ten riders went 3mins up the road, would Del Toro really be stupid enough to "follow team orders" and stick with Carapaz? This is an exaggerated example, but it is exactly what Del Toro did with Yates.
Del Toro only has himself to blame - if someone is threatening your lead, you chase, it shouldn't take team orders to tell you to do that!