"You can't be a first-page rider": Chris Horner not impressed by Del Toro's "gifted" UAE Tour victory
Cycling
Isaac del Toro picked up where he left off at the end of last season with an overall victory (plus two stages) at the UAE Tour. The value of this result is clear when we see the names such as Felix Gall (5th), Derek Gee (7th), and especally Remco Evenepoel (10th) finish far behind the Mexican youngster. But is that enough for Del Toro to reach the stardom heights of Evenepoel, let alone his teammate Tadej Pogacar?
According to Chris Horner, there is still a long way for Del Toro to replace the struggling Primoz Roglic in the "big six" (Pogacar, Van der Poel, Evenepoel, Vingegaard, Van Aert & Roglic), whom Horner addresses as "first-page riders" of cycling. "People are starting to talk about him being first-page rider, but he simply ain't there yet," the 2013 Vuelta a Espana winner explains in his Youtube analysis.
The American immediately recounts the opening stage of the race where Del Toro stunned sprinters to dominate the uphill sprint to Liwa Palace. "He got a bit lucky because Johnatan Milan crashes late in the stage. That disrupts everything."
"I'm not taking away the possibility that Del Toro could have still won that stage, but when you take a team that is so well-oiled to lead out a sprinter like Milan (who won three sprints later during this UAE Tour), and they hold it all together at that very finish there, drilling it on the front, and Isaac has to go against Milan... It could've possibly changed the result."
A gifted victory
Horner then points out to Del Toro's disappointing time trial where he lost time to all his GC rivals, even though that was partly cause by a wind direction change for the last riders on starting ramp. However the advantage Evenepoel gained over Del Toro against the clock immediately disappeared on Jebel Mobrah the following day as the Olympic champion lost close to two minutes.
"At least three, four gifts so far by three stages have been given to Isaac Del Toro," Horner states. "First Johnny Milan (crashing), then Remco Evenepoel blowing up when he already has a 30-second gap on Del Toro."
The collective strength of UAE Team Emirates - XRG also played an important part on stage 3 according to the American ex-pro: "Kevin Vermaerke is there, Adam Yates is there to help him out, and he finishes close enough to be within that 15 seconds on that stage three."
But not everything was a "fluke" this past week for Del Toro. His performance on the second summit finish of the race - the Jebel Hafeet - was without a flaw. Horner highlights how Del Toro always remained in control of the race situation and secured his GC victory without a doubt.
"Nothing about this stage was luck," Horner nods in satisfaction. "This stage was magnificently ran tactically by Del Toro. And I want to bring that up because that's what we have seen change in his arsenal of tricks - that he's getting better and better tactically too." Definitely a lesson learned from his Giro d'Italia heartbreak last year.
Del Toro needs to show us a whole lot more to be in the consideration
And so, at the end of the day, Del Toro overthrew Tiberi in overall classification to win the UAE Tour by 20 seconds. To Horner, this is far from enough, considering how "easy" has the race been for Del Toro with gifted bonification seconds on stage 1, Evenepoel's blow-up, and no out-standing rivals.
"When it's all said and done, he wins by 20 seconds on Tiberi, and that is too close of a margin to start talking about a rider being first-page."
"But you can't be a first-page rider because you won UAE Tour under those circumstances," Horner continues, "and you can't be a first-page rider when we take a look at the most important thing about the UAE Tour; there's two other races going on in Europe. During that same week of racing, we know Algarve (with Seixas, Ayuso and Almeida) is going on, and we know Ruta Del Sol (with Pidcock) is going on.
"So sometimes, you can't look at a result and just say, 'Wow, he dropped Remco Evenepoel'. Realistically, Isaac Del Toro didn't even drop Remco. In fact, Felix Gall did. And about 16, 17 other riders did on stage three. So that tells you what? That tells you Remco was not up to his best. So Isaac Del Toro is beating a first-page rider in the name of Remco Evenepoel, but not on first-page form," Horner concludes.
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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