Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates) answered his doubters with lethal panache to defend pink and drove home to victory in Wednesday’s stage 17 at the Giro d’Italia.
The Mortirolo – one of the Giro d’Italia’s most iconic climbs — lived up to its fearsome reputation but it was a late-stage third-category climb that delivered the sparks.
Del Toro jumped near the top of the unsung Cat. 3 La Motte to gap everyone except Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), who was stuck on his wheel.
“I imagined that I could win a stage with the maglia rosa. The Giro has been very good so far. The fight for the podium is incredible. Today I realized that I will never give up,” Del Toro said. “I will always try to win. I have nothing to lose.”
An early break looked to have legs to win, but a hard-charging GC group had other ambitions. The day’s last straggler in the form of Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL), racing in his last grand tour, linked up with Carapaz and Del Toro with 5km to go.
Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) couldn’t follow and was forced to chase to try to limit his losses.
After showing some chinks in his pink-jersey armor in Tuesday’s wild stage, Del Toro attacked Carapaz and Bardet with 1.5km to go to solo home for his first stage win in this Giro.
With time bonuses, Del Toro tightens his grip on pink with two decisive climbing stages looming this week.
Carapaz moved into second overall, but lost time to Del Toro, now 41 seconds clear on GC. Simon Yates dipped to third, now 51 seconds back. Canada’s Derek Gee (IPT) remains fourth at 1:57 back.
“It wasn’t any easier today than yesterday. With the team, we expected some attacks to take place on the Mortirolo. We didn’t want to let all the GC riders go,” Del Toro said. “I went across to them and I took it easy a bit. I caught them in the descent. We had made this plan with the team that I would attack on the last small climb.”
Coming midway through the stage, the Mortirolo’s savage gradients splintered the race into pieces but stopped short of detonating the GC.
Carapaz did what he had to do and attacked the upper reaches, and despite distancing Del Toro, the elastic was stretched but did not snap.
Carapaz bridged to the remnants of the day’s breakaway, including EF Education-EasyPost teammate Georg Steinhauser. Del Toro was briefly isolated, but he was rejoined by UAE teammates Rafal Majka and Adam Yates on the descent.
Simon Yates, despite having Visma-Lease a Bike teammates up the road, couldn’t shake the pink jersey or link up with Carapaz. The GC group eventually reformed to drive home toward the line.
The real surprise came on the Cat. 3 Le Motte climb with 9km to go that set things on fire.
Full results stage 17: Del Toro doubles up
Mortirolo bites
One of the Giro’s most famous climbs bit, but did not break the GC apart. Coming a little more than midway in the stage, it was a bit too far from the finish to light the race for pink.
The brutal steeps, no denying, blew the race into bits.
The leading group shrank and the leaders came off the summit nursing a promising lead for the stage win, with Dani Martínez, Afonso Eulálio, Mathias Vacek, Mattia Cattaneo, Romain Bardet, Wilco Kelderman, Florian Stork, and Lorenzo Fortunato as the sole survivors.
In the GC group, the pace whittled the lead group until Carapaz jumped on the upper reaches of the Mortirolo. Simon Yates and then Del Toro eventually chased, with the Mexican reacting to the pressure of the attacks.
Richie is on the move!! VAMOSSSSS @giroditalia pic.twitter.com/txuCzL6D0n
— EF Pro Cycling (@EFprocycling) May 28, 2025
Carapaz distanced his chasers to link up with some remnants of the early break, including EF teammate Steinhauser, about 20 seconds ahead of the chasing GC group.
Del Toro was isolated, but UAE’s Rafal Majka and Adam Yates later rejoined on the descent. Despite having teammates up the road, Simon Yates couldn’t gap Del Toro or link up with Carapaz.
The 2018 Vuelta a España winner eventually settled into the GC group that included Caruso, Cepeda, Bernal, Gee, Poole, Lemmen, Ulissi, with Del Toro finding familiar jerseys in Majka and Adam Yates.
Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) was the top GC rider to struggle, and he was one minute off the back on the descent. Michael Storer (Tudor) also ceded time.
McNulty was stuck in no man’s land, about one minute behind the leaders, and he paced himself to be ready to help Del Toro if he needed it.
The two groups eventually linked up to drive toward the line.
McNulty up the road, Plapp and Vine pull plug
After Tuesday’s explosive stage, everyone was on edge Wednesday for the two-climb brawler over the feared Mortirolo. A flurry of endless attacks came from the gun, but nothing truly formed until the race hit the lower flanks of the Cat. 1 Passo del Tonale.
UAE’s Brandon McNulty was best-placed at 7:43 back was best-placed in a big group of 23 that included four Visma-Lease a Bike riders.
Juan Ayuso, who dropped out of contention Tuesday, struggled to be at the front, leaving Del Toro without a key engine early in the stage.
Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla), a winner in stage 8, pulled out before the Tonale. Jay Vine (UAE Emirates-XRG) abandoned heading toward the Mortirolo.
What’s next: A day for the breakaway
A short but punchy transition stage between the mountains should be one for the breakaway artists.
The lumpy 144km stage Morbegno to Cesano Maderno features three moderate climbs that serve as a trampoline for riders chasing the stage win on the front half of the profile. Some of the sprinter teams might take up the chase if the gap isn’t too big coming off the final climb once the bunch hits a finishing circuit.
The GC riders will be content to cool their jets ahead of the closing tussle looming in the mountains on the final weekend.