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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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!