Isaac del Toro managed what Tadej Pogačar couldn't a year ago as he blasted to victory on the uphill finish to Liwa Palace for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, admitting that, despite planning to take on the sprint, he himself didn't know just how strong he would be.
On the exact same stage of last year's race, Pogačar placed himself among the big sprinters and came unstuck after hitting the wind too early. Del Toro, however, smelled blood and delivered for the home side on stage 1, holding off a late charge from Cees Bol (Decathlon-CMA CGM) on the breathless ramp to the line.
"It was kind of [the plan]. We tried to be as near as we can as a team, so that if we lose, we don't lose anything, but you could have an advantage, so we are happy with this," said Del Toro in his post-race press conference.
"I saw the videos of the stage finish [from previous years], of course, like everyone else. But I just tried it. Even to attempt this stage, it would not be easy, but it was even better than we thought.
"I knew it was headwind; the finish was incredibly hard, but of course, we are here to make it harder, so I'm quite proud. This is incredible."
After strong winds forced organisers to shorten the race, removing the two tricky laps around the Moreeb Dune cycle path, it put the stage more in favour of the sprinters than it already had been.
That was, until the big favourite and last year's winner in Liwa, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), crashed in the final 2 kilometres.
But Del Toro had already been plotting and planning a raid on the final, admitting in his flash interview that "I was thinking there might be a chance, but that was a dream, not being realistic. During the stage, I questioned my teammates if they could see this properly happening, but it’s still crazy that I’ve made it."
Experienced UAE sports director Andrej Hauptman saw it slightly differently, revealing that a sprint for Juan Sebastian Molano was the plan – after the Colombian missed the chance to do so due to a late crash – which partially persuaded Pogačar into trying the move he did.
"No, it was just our plan was to do a sprint with Molano, but to also keep Isaac safe in first position, because of the one-second rule. But in the end, you see the group stopped a bit between 500 and 400 metres to go," Hauptman told Cyclingnews at the team van.
"Isaac saw this opportunity; he attacked, and he managed to come first."
With his instinct kicking in, Del Toro repeated the word "crazy" as he recounted the finale while answering questions, saying, "I saw the chance, and I didn't want to regret that."
"You know it's always if you follow numbers you will see you are on the right track, the right weight, but the only way to know where exactly you are is to race, and we are extremely happy with where we are with this win."
While Del Toro winning a surprise to some, that wasn't exactly true for the team who had narrowly missed out on denying him at the line, with Mark Renshaw telling Cyclingnews that the Mexican had been on their mind already ahead of Monday's stinging final ramp.
"Absolutely, we expected something like this. We spoke about him yesterday, and in the modern age of cycling, guys like this can do anything now, especially on a finish like that."
Delighted with his rising star's performance, Hauptman, Del Toro and the rest of UAE will now look ahead to a time trial and two mountain stages that will decide the overall.
"Always, if you follow numbers, you will see you are on the right track, and at the right weight, but you are the only way to know where exactly you are is to race, and we are extremely happy with where we are with this win," added the Slovenian DS.
"It was a bit different to Tadej last year, because in 2025 the group didn't stall in the finale, but anyway, you need to have a super performance and super power to manage this long effort."
With a 10-second lead built now, thanks to bonus seconds, Del Toro was both realistic about his chances against the reigning three-time time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel and far from simply accepting defeat at the best time trialist in the world's hands.
"I didn't know how good I would be, but of course I want to try, and I'm super happy to have the legs that I had today," he said.
"Keeping the jersey is the dream, but we need to be realistic and try to be attentive the whole week and not lose focus. Honestly, yes, I work on it, but not as much as I need to do now, I'm realising, but we will keep going.
"I hope to be fast. I'm not thinking about losing time, honestly. I mean, it's not like I'm thinking to win it, the TT, but I'm thinking to do my best and see the times after."
