The Giro giveth, the Giro taketh away, but Isaac del Toro is still in pink.
Just 24 hours after UAE Team Emirates-XRG looked poised to dominate the final week of the 2025 Giro d’Italia, its GC masterplan unraveled on the brutal summit finish to San Valentino.
Juan Ayuso, poised third overall and touted as a co-leader, cracked spectacularly and plummeted to 17th, leaving Del Toro to carry the maglia rosa responsibilities all alone.
Del Toro, under siege from Simon Yates and Richard Carapaz on Tuesday, dug deep and limited his losses to cling to the jersey, even as the gap to his challengers narrowed to a slender margin of 26 and 31 seconds, respectively.
“I didn’t have the best legs of my life but that wasn’t an excuse. I did my best with the energy I had,” said Del Toro, who showed his first signs of weakness since taking pink on the gravel roads to Siena more than a week ago.
“It was a very hard day for everybody. Even all GC riders were at the limit. It was the pure spirit of cycling,” Del Toro said at the finish. “I can’t be prouder of the team. Without them, I couldn’t be in this position. We made the best strategy possible with the legs I had today.”
Del Toro might have shown some chinks in his pink-jersey armor, but he’s still in the lead.
On a day when things could have gone very wrong, there was some quiet celebration inside the UAE bus even if it lost Ayuso.
And for a team out to prove it can win a grand tour without superstar Tadej Pogačar, still having a grip on pink is important.
Ayuso tumbles out of contention: ‘He had a bad day’
Del Toro might be proud, but UAE’s once seemingly iron grip on the Giro went limp in the first truly difficult climbing stage of this Giro.
Two hard crashes in the second week finally caught up with Ayuso, a stage winner in stage 7. Things unraveled early and Ayuso became unstuck when the real attacks came from Ineos Grenadiers and EF Education-EasyPost’s Carapaz.
The Spanish climber plummeted to 17th overall and UAE saw its two-pronged GC attack evaporate in the Giro’s hardest stage so far after more than two weeks of racing.
“I spoke with Juan Ayuso in the morning, he didn’t have the best feelings. He had two crashes,” Del Toro said. “We tried to manage a little bit when he had a hard time on the second climb. He had a bad day.”
There were still no direct reactions from team officials or Ayuso about exactly what happened.
Crisis for Juan Ayuso. Nobody waits for him, it’s over. #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/TMzvOSiD8b
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) May 27, 2025
When Ayuso cracked, no one at UAE waited, and the team’s veterans Rafa Majka and Adam Yates rallied around its young star.
Despite visibly suffering on the final climb, Del Toro showed tenacity and kept his cool under fire.
Rather than panic and risk losing everything, he kept tapping away to limit the losses.
“Visma and UAE, we tried to put a high speed on the climb, there was a little bit of a headwind. Simon [Yates] spent a little bit, they used the steep climb to their favor,” the 21-year-old said. “When [Richard] Carapaz went, I tried to keep a near distance, I wanted to work with him but I didn’t have the best legs for that. I fought till the end. He was stronger today.”
Speaking to the Spanish daily MARCA on Monday’s rest day, UAE’s Joxean Fernández Matxín said UAE is away that everything could slip away in the closing stages despite riding with confidence since the Giro started.
The super team is hopeful it won’t lose the pink jersey on the Giro’s penultimate stage, in what might be a sort of cosmic payback from the turnaround at the 2020 Tour de France, when Pogačar snatched victory in the final time trial away from Primož Roglič.
Roglič is also gone from this Giro, but there are other riders nipping at the team’s collective heels.
“Obviously, we don’t want to think about that, but we’re aware because we’ve lived through the other side — the 2020 Tour. There was a clear dominant rider, and then on the final day, everything suddenly changed and there was no room to react,” Fernández said.
“We’re fully aware of the GC situation, but we have to stay on this path, keep faith and confidence that even though [he is] only 21, Del Toro has been showing himself as the strongest rider so far.”
Del Toro still in pink: ‘I hope to have better legs tomorrow’
Despite seeing his lead shrink, Del Toro seemed happiest on the post-stage winner’s podium since becoming Mexico’s first pink jersey-wearer after the gravel chaos in stage 9.
Why? Del Toro said the magic (and pain) of defending pink finally set in, even if every pedal stroke was hell on wheels.
“Today I realized that I am truly the pink jersey,” Del Toro said after withstanding the intense attacks. “I was trying in the end, and it was hard. I cannot believe that I am one of those guys who needs to be defend, be at the front, and be smart, and I suffered a lot and every moment was painful.
“Of course, I am not happy with losing the time, but I am also content because I used my strength as best I could,” he said. “I have absolutely no regrets and the team was around me all the time.”
I didn’t see Isaac del Toro at Maglia Rosa ceremony so happy as today. No more pressure for him. He just must do his best and enjoy the race. #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/6e3XJnza2q
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) May 27, 2025
With Ayuso out of the GC frame and Yates — who climbed into 10th — too far back at more than 5 minutes in arrears, UAE has no choice but to fully commit to its Mexican protégé.
“The three riders [behind me on GC] are dangerous. They’re different kinds of riders. We need to be careful. I don’t have one favorite,” he said, signaling Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech) as a new threat.
“I hope to have better legs tomorrow,” Del Toro said, referring to Wednesday’s stage featuring the fearsome Mortirolo. “We’ll keep fighting all the way to Rome, we’ll see how my legs hold up. Of course, I am feeling tired like I think everyone is this deep in the Giro.”