Isaac del Toro dismissed any suggestions that the fatigue of Strade Bianche could impact his chances at Tirreno-Adriatico but quickly left Sunday's pre-race press conference, with reports swirling that he was not at his best for the week-long stage race.
The Mexican won the UAE Tour and leads UAE Team Emirates-XRG at Tirreno-Adriatico in the absence of Tadej Pogačar. He impressed at Strade Bianche, finishing third behind Pogačar and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMS CGM) after marking the French rider while Pogačar surged to victory.
Any sore legs and health problems for the Mexican will perhaps emerge during Monday's time trial and then on the late gravel sector and uphill finish on stage 2 to San Gimignano. If Del Toro is not 100%, it could give GC rivals such as Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-Easypost), two-time winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) a better chance of overall success.
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"I'm good," Del Toro cut short, when asked if the fatigue of Strade Bianche would be a problem.
In his only other answer during the press conference, Del Toro seemed more concerned about the daily risks of racing Tirreno-Adriatico.
This year's race lacks a mountain finish to decide the general classification, with more hilltop finishes and short, steep climbs. Any time losses in the time trial will also have a bigger factor.
"This is a race that will be highly competitive because all the teams lining up are extremely motivated," Del Toro said.
"On this kind of course, it’ll be necessary to stay attentive every day. There’s no queen stage, anything can happen every day. I guess we’ll be in a constant state of stress."
Roglič played down his chances on his season debut but Tiberi could be a real threat to Del Toro just as he was at the UAE Tour. He won the first mountain stage to Jebel Mobrah ahead of Del Toro but then lost overall victory when the Mexican surged away on the finish to Jebel Hafeet.
Tiberi did not ride Strade Bianche but was third in last week's Trofeo Laigueglia. He opted to play down his chances.
"The route is for sure not suited to me because I prefer long, harder climbs," Tiberi said.
"But the steep uphill finish could be good and perhaps the gavel road in the final kilometres of stage 2 is where I could do something."
Roglič was even more cautious, despite recently training at altitude for his season debut.
"I didn't come here from a holiday, I did some preparation at altitude. My training was fine, I just need to start racing," he said.
"I feel good. The other riders have all raced but this is the start of my season, so we'll see…."
