Isaac del Toro climbed to victory on Jebel Hafeet on Saturday, taking over the race lead on the penultimate stage of the UAE Tour with it.
The Mexican UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider attacked with 4km to go, dropping all eventually, including previous race leader Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) on the way to the top of the dam. With one flat stage to go, it seems likely that the Mexican is on course for his first WorldTour general classification victory.
It was Del Toro's relentless riding out of the saddle which allowed him to power away on the iconic UAE finish. It was a reversal of stage three, when Tiberi beat Del Toro to the top of Jebel Morah. Tiberi remained with his rival until 2.7km to go, before finally dropping, and finishing fourth.
Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) finished 12 seconds behind Del Toro in second, to move up to third overall. Tiberi remains second on GC, but Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) finished third on stage six.
"Ot's a mentality game that you have to be confident enough to keep trying and of course if one time it doesn't work you need to still have to have it in your head that you're able to do it," Del Toro said post-stage. "Today we weren't confident that we'd be able to win but we had the mentality that we will work for it.
"With 2.5km to go, I knew I had to keep going to the line and when I saw the gpa I tried to believe and increase the gap as much as I can.
"Today is one of the top three victories of my career. It's so special, when you win with a team like this it's even more special. Now it's time to realise that I'm working for it and I need to believe in myself more day by day."
Previous race leader Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) is now 10th overall. If Del Toro is to win the UAE Tour tomorrow, after a flat sprint stage, he will be the first UAE rider who isn't Tadej Pogačar to win his team's home race.
