Isaac del Toro produced a statement performance to secure victory on the penultimate day of the UAE Tour after leaving red jersey holder Antonio Tiberi in his wake on the climb up Jebel Hafeet.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider started Saturday's Stage 6 from Al Ain Museum 21 seconds behind Tiberi in the general classification but with confidence still high that the gap could be overturned.
Ahead of the stage, Del Toro made clear he was ready “to fight for the win” and that he felt in great shape going into the crucial battle on Jebel Hafeet.
Tiberi admitted he was “curious to see how UAE want to play their cards” in terms of when they would go on the attack. “Del Toro will try some attacks, because, I mean, he has 21 seconds to make up, so he has to do something,” said Tiberi, who took over the red jersey after winning Wednesday's Stage 3 on Jebel Mobrah.
As it turned out, the attack came with over 3km to go on the 168km stage leaving Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) desperately hanging on to the Mexican's tail with Lucas Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla) also fighting back to stay in the hunt.
But when Del Toro increased the pace again with 2.5km left, Tiberi and Plapp could not keep up with the Italian eventually finishing down fourth behind second-placed Australian rider Plap and Austria's Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) who came home third.
It was another landmark performance from rising star Del Toro who goes into Sunday's final sprint stage round the streets of Abu Dhabi 20 seconds ahead of Tiberi, with Plapp third, 1 minute 40 second behind the leader.
During the week, UAE Team Emirates-XRG's chief operating officer Andrea Agostini told The National that the 22-year-old is “not the future, he's the present” calling Del Toro's talent “something special”.
And that certainly proved to be the case on the UAE Tour as the Giro d'Italia runner-up stepped into the spotlight vacated this year by his teammate and three-time winner Tadej Pogacar with some panache after also claiming victory on Stage 1.
“This is just a mentality game, that you can be confident enough to keep trying and, of course, if one time it doesn't work, you still need to have it in your head that you're able to do it,” Del Toro said of the timing of his attacks.
“Today, we were not confident that we will win, but we had the mentality that we would work for it.
“I needed to keep going until the line. When I saw the gap, I tried to believe and increase the gap as much as I can.
“Today is one of the top three victories in my career. It's so special, and when you win with a team like this it's even more special. Now, it's time to realise that I'm working for it and I need to believe more in myself day by day.”
On Friday, Jonathan Milan had sprinted to his second stage win in a row after a chaotic finish in Dubai.
The Italian pushed ahead early and comfortably held off Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) and Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana) to claim victory. Milan's brother Matteo Milan (Groupama-FDJ United) – who had finished third on Stage 4 – crashed on the final corner.
Sundays seventh and final stage is a 149km sprint which starts on Saadiyat Island and ends at Abu Dhabi Breakwater.
Stage 7 route
