Just 24 hours after Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) played poker with their Giro d'Italia podium places and both lost to Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike), both refused to admit they had made a tactical blunder.
Yates was crowned the winner of the 2025 Giro in Rome on Sunday, with Del Toro and Carapaz obliged to stand a step lower than the Visma-Lease a Bike rider on the final podium overlooking the Foro Imperiale Roman ruins. There was only one emperor in the Eternal city.
Del Toro won the best young riders' white jersey and sportingly praised Yates on his victory during the early kilometre of the final stage. There was a briefer exchange with Carapaz but the 21-year-old Mexican insisted he had chosen the right tactic to ride defensively and not ride with Carapaz to try to keep Yates under control on the Colle delle Finestre.
"I don't think I did anything wrong," Del Toro said in Rome.
"Richard had to protect his second place and so marked me closely. He said I should have worked with him but if I'd worked with him, he would have attacked me and could have gained time on me. He thought he was doing the most intelligent thing for his place on the podium. You can win that way but you can also lose."
Del Toro promised to return to try to win the Giro and will surely be a protected Grand Tour team leader in 2026.
"I wanted to win but I can't honestly believe I've finished second. For sure I'll be back to try to win the Giro," Del Toro confirmed.
"I'm really happy with my Giro. I was always up there, always learning. I've got to be proud of myself and of the team that was always there for me."
Carapaz is a man of few words but always chooses them carefully. On Saturday in Sestriere he blamed Del Toro for not wanting to work with him and so chased Yates.
"We could have been the strongest, but it was the most intelligent who won," he said on Saturday. "Del Toro lost the Giro. He didn't know how to race well."
After the Giro ended in Rome on Sunday evening, Carapaz again chose his words carefully.
"We all played the same game, the game of trying to win, and only one could win," he said.
"We went all in for it and it ended how it ended. For me, a third place is a reward for all the hard work we put in to be on the podium, so I think we can all be very happy.
"I gave it all for three weeks and I wouldn't change anything. I think this is the game, and sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose."
It was Carapaz's fifth Grand Tour podium place. He won the 2019 Giro but now has a second and this place on his palmares, plus a third place at the Tour de France.
Yet the Ecuadorian climber has no regrets. He is happy to be back on the podium after two injury and illness hit seasons with EF Education-EasyPost. The US-registered WorldTour team won two stages, with Carapaz on stage 11 to Castelnovo ne' Monti and with Kasper Asgreen on stage 14 to Gorizia.
"For me it's a special race so to return to the podium again is really special for me and my team. This has been the project for three years, and now finishing on this podium is super special. I want to enjoy it," Carapaz said.
"I think we're happy about the work we did all Giro. We'll leave with the feeling of having been present in this Giro as a team. From the very first day we said we wanted to fight and try to win and that's what we did. We'll leave with a good third place and enjoy that."
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