UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Del Toro wins Tour de France stage, Pogacar comes 2nd

UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Isaac Del Toro won the second stage of the Tour de France ahead of reigning champion Tadej Pogacar in Barcelona on Sunday as Jonas Vingegaard maintained his overall lead.

Del Toro led home his UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s leader Pogacar on the short, steep climb to the finish at Montjuic, with Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel taking third just ahead of Vingegaard.

“It means really everything,” said Del Toro, who is making his Tour debut having finished second at the Giro d’Italia last year.

“I’m a very privileged guy. You cannot believe how much work it took to get here,” added the 22-year-old.

Pogacar took six bonus seconds at the finish to move up to second in the yellow jersey standings at just six seconds behind Vinegaard, with Evenepoel now third at 15sec.

Vingegaard could not quite keep up with lead duo in the sprint finish but managed to clock the same time.

“I followed (Pogacar) on the climb. Of course, on the last sprint, it’s very anaerobic and that’s not my strength.

“To be honest, I can be happy with how it played out.”

With such a punchy, hilly finish in Barcelona at the end of a 169km stage from Tarragona, fireworks were expected amongst the overall favourites.

Del Toro’s UAE upped the pace once the peloton arrived on the finishing circuit around Barcelona, quickly reducing the front group to around 30 riders.

That was thinned out even more on the third and final ascent of the Montjuic hill, where the Barcelona Olympic stadium stands.

Del Toro moved to the front in the final 700 metres with Pogacar right behind him.

And with Vingegaard and Evenepoel unable to force their way ahead, world champion Pogacar looked around repeatedly -- seemingly holding something back -- before letting his team-mate take the glory.

Everything’s insane: That helped Del Toro move up to fourth overall at 16sec, with Spaniard Juan Ayuso fifth at 19sec.

The Mexican also leads the green points jersey and young rider standings.

“I cannot believe what I just did,” said Del Toro.

“It’s just really like full emotions, and you cannot believe how it feels now for me, and especially for my country,” added Del Toro, with Mexico due to play England in a World Cup last 16 clash in Mexico City later on Sunday.

“Everything that’s going on is just insane!”

Pogacar even celebrated Del Toro’s victory by waving a Mexican flag as he warmed down on the rollers after the stage.

“Tadej is a great guy and I think it’s very generous of him to give a stage to a teammate,” said Vingegaard.

“But also, (Del Toro) really deserves it, to be honest.

“He’s a super big talent and very, very strong. It was an impressive ride by both him and also Pogacar today.”

Teenage French prodigy Paul Seixas came home in a group of nine riders three seconds back and he is now sixth overall at 42sec.

A three-man breakaway comprising Felix Engelhardt, Alex Molenaar and Frank van den Broek were allowed to escape in the opening kilometres and build up a lead of almost four minutes.

But that lead dissolved to just 20 seconds by the top of the first categorised climb of this year’s Tour, the Cote de Begues, with still 70km to ride.

By the time the peloton arrived in Barcelona for the final circuits with 30km left, the breakaway had been swallowed up, but Molenaar had done enough to claim the lead in the polkadot mountains jersey competition.

Both Del Toro and Seixas had suffered mechanical issues before reaching Barcelona but were able to get back to the peloton.

Del Toro had to close a two-minute gap on a technical part of the course while Seixas found himself more than 30-seconds behind, but much closer to the closing circuit.

“I had to use up a couple of rounds,” said Seixas about his late chase.

He said he was distanced at the foot of the final climb and “couldn’t close the gap”, but nonetheless “it’s been a good start to the Tour”.

Agence France-Presse