Isaac del Toro is just two stages away from overall victory at the 2025 Giro d'Italia, and the climb of the mighty Colle delle Finestre might be the only thing standing between him and glory in Rome on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Mexican refuses to get ahead of himself and feel assured of victory and is not considering attacking alone in the maglia rosa on the Colle delle Finestre and riding to victory.
Cyclingnews asked Del Toro if he could pull off such a dream scenario but he stayed silent. Ask if he was superstitious, he smiled, nodded his head and laughed. He is close to victory but knows he is not there yet.
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"My chances of victory are exactly the same as when I started the Giro," he said, giving his standard, modest answer to the question he has faced every day for over a week.
"I'm wearing pink but it doesn't give me extra motivation. I have to stay calm. I don't know what I did wrong when I cracked on stage 16 to San Valentino but I wasn't there. Today I felt more secure about the big stages and for the future."
Del Toro admitted he has seen the video footage of Chis Froome's 2018 solo attack on the Colle delle Finestre, as the Briton turned the Giro upside down to snatch victory from Simon Yates and Tom Dumoulin. It could inspire him to do something during Saturday's stage.
"I've seen the stage quite a few times. It was an amazing stage. It will be magical for me and we'll see how it goes," he said with caution.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG again controlled the race on stage 19 to Champoluc, aided by strong winds in the valleys of the Valle d'Aosta. Del Toro waited on the wheels and then just jumped after Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) when he attacked near the summit of the Col de Joux.
The pair gained 24 seconds on Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) and took the bonus seconds but theirs was the only major attack. UAE's strength as a team and the mountain winds limited the aggression and turned the stage into a tactical game rather than an all-out attack.
"At first I was surprised there were no attacks but some of the climbs were half tailwind and half headwind," Del Toro explained.
"If you try to go solo from quite far out, there's a risk of a headwind, half of 50km could be into the wind and you can pay for that effort. That's why some riders didn't try anything.
"I had the legs to go with Carapaz and stay with him. I can't be happier than the situation now. I have to thank the team for all the work they did yet again. All the guys were incredible. It's special to be here racing with them. Going with the attacks and defending the jersey is the best thing I can do to pay them back."
We can expect more defensive and convincing UAE team tactics on Saturday, with just a slight chance that Del Toro will unleash his natural instinct to attack if in a dominant position.
"We'll probably race as today," Del Toro predicted.
"Other teams will probably try and so we need to be up front and together, as always. We have to race smart and then I need to be up there with the top guys."
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