Who is Isaac del Toro? UAE Mexican Prodigy Just Might Win this Giro d'Italia

Isaac del Toro tamed the white roads of Tuscany to make history as the first Mexican to wear the pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia.

Just 21, the all-rounder from Baja California lit up Sunday’s dusty and dangerous stage across the gravel roads of Tuscany and roared into the race leader’s jersey.

The Tour de l’Avenir winner in 2023 rode like a cagey veteran Sunday, and only Wout van Aert could deny him the stage victory.

Just nine days into the Giro, and Mexico now has its first-ever pink jersey.

“It means a lot. I cannot believe it. You want this when you are a kid,” Del Toro said. “When you realize this, it is more than incredible. I cannot believe it. It’s the best dream. It’s amazing, I cannot describe this.”

UAE Emirates-XRG is flexing serious depth, stacking the top-10 going into Monday’s rest day.

Behind Del Toro, Juan Ayuso is second at 1:13 back. Brandon McNulty, who rode heroically through Sunday’s stage with a bloody and cut elbow, is eighth at 1:59 and Adam Yates in ninth at 2:01. All three came through in the lead group behind Del Toro into Siena.

Can Del Toro keep the jersey? He’s not making any promises.

“I need dinner, I need sleep, and then we’ll see,” he said. “Some days you feel great, some days you don’t. That’s cycling.”

And as for a power struggle with Ayuso? Del Toro shrugged off any talk of team tension when asked by RAI, “Why? We are friends.”

Pressing the advantage

Sunday’s savage white roads stage across Tuscany turned into a demolition derby with 50km to go, as a crash splintered the GC group.

Primož Roglič, Tom Pidcock, and UAE teammate Brandon McNulty all hit the deck. Del Toro, riding smart near the front, avoided the chaos and pushed on unscathed.

“It was a situation in the front, and I was lucky I didn’t crash,” Del Toro said. “I looked back and I saw that Ayuso didn’t crash at the moment. At the first moment I thought Egan was Ayuso because they race in white jerseys. When I realized this I told Egan and Ineos I cannot work and stayed last in the group.”

Riding out of a cloud of white dust, Del Toro eventually linked up with the Ineos pair of Egan Bernal and Brandon Rivera, with Van Aert’s menacing presence at the front.

With Roglič gapped off the back, and Ayuso surrounded by Yates and McNulty, Del Toro suddenly had a free ride.

Del Toro accelerated late to gap Bernal and tried twice to drop Van Aert, who risked everything to come around him in the finale to take his first big win since crashing out of last year’s Vuelta.

“I tried to give all and I didn’t want regrets, but I could not drop him,” Del Toro said. “I was trying and that was good.”

Who is Mexico’s sensation?

Del Toro was poised to rewrite the history books during his Giro debut and it didn’t take long.

Tongues have been wagging about how good he looked in the opening week, with 2019 Tour de France winner Egan Bernal even saying that he thought Del Toro was the strongest so far.

“Dreaming is for free. I cannot believe that Bernal says this,” Del Toro said.

No Mexican had ever worn the pink jersey and none have won a stage since Julio Perez Cuapio, active in the early 2000s, won three Giro stages, including two stages and the mountains jersey in 2002.

Mexico’s most famous racer Raul Alcala won two stages and wore yellow at the Tour de France during his storied career, but never won a Giro stage.

Born in Ensenada in Mexico’s Baja California, Del Toro raced mountain bikes and joined the Mexican national team.

In 2023, riding for the A.R. Monex team, Del Toro stunned the cycling world by winning the Tour de l’Avenir. That performance earned him a fast-track to the WorldTour with UAE Emirates for 2024.

Del Toro wasted no time proving he belonged. He won a stage and finished third overall at the 2024 Tour Down Under in his WorldTour debut, and then dominated the Vuelta a Asturias. A victory at the historic Milano–Torino race in 2025 further proved his worth, making him the youngest and first Mexican rider to win the Italia semi-classic.

Sunday’s big ride also reveals how much trust the team has in “El Torito” — the little bull — and they’ve already penned him to a deal through 2029.

UAE protecting next diamond-in-the-rough

Del Toro seems destined to keep pulling off firsts, but UAE brass are being protective of their latest diamond in the rough.

Last year, after his blowout debut at the Santos Tour Down Under, many were quick to compare him to Tadej Pogačar, another former Avenir winner who’s lit up a few grand tours.

“They are very different riders and there’s no reason to compare them like that,” Joxean Matxín Fernández told Velo about Pogačar and Del Toro. “That’s not fair for a rider who has everything ahead of them. There’s only one Tadej, and we have to give Isaac time to develop.”

Also read: How far can Del Toro go?

Last year, Del Toro finished his grand tour debut at the Vuelta a España in 36th without a stage win, far from Pogačar’s third-place debut in the 2019 Vuelta that included three stage victories.

“I’m still discovering my level. The plan for the Vuelta was to race without pressure, to find my place,” Del Toro told Velo last year. “I’m still learning so much.”

His apprenticeship is over and he’s paying back dividends. Now he’s leading the world No. 1 team in a title defense even if Pogačar isn’t racing.