Isaac del Toro admitted he had “mixed feelings” after beating his friend and Tirreno-Adriatico rival Giulio Pelizzari in the Italian’s hometown of Camerino.
The Mexican stamped his authority on this year’s edition of Tirreno-Adriatico with his first stage victory of the race.
Del Toro, who already has a brace of second places this week, is set to win the GC as long as he can survive the sprint stage on the final day tomorrow.
Speaking to TNT Sport at the finish Del Toro said: “We’ve been quite close to this but today was very nice. I’m super happy. But also I have mixed feelings. It’s pretty strange. This is for the guys and the staff really.”
The UAE-Emirates leader timed his moves to perfection as the GC contenders did battle on the steep final climb to Camerino.
The peloton had been reduced to 24 riders as it came into the bottom of the final climb, having just mopped up the remains of the day’s break.
Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) was the first to attack, he was shortly followed by Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), who then took up the lead on the road.
Del Toro watched his rivals closely and bided his time. Pelizarri, who started the day second on GC just 23 seconds back, was the first of the GC riders to attack and his second attempt took him clear of the chasing group.
But Del Toro was lurking and on the final steep ramp of the climb into the town centre to accelerated to overtake his friend with Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), sitting third on GC, in tow.
He said: “I wasn’t sure I could bring it back because it’s super hard and he’s super strong. So we couldn’t let him go far away. It was super tough to bring him back.”
The top three rode together for a short time before Del Toro attacked and only Jorgenson could follow. A further acceleration just a few corners from the line took the Mexican clear and behind him Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) overhauled Jorgenson for second place on the stage.
The UAE Emirates-XRG rider said that he would have to be “attentive” on the race’s final sprint stage to secure the blue jersey, which he now holds by a margin of 0.42, tomorrow.
The final stage will take the riders from Civitanova Marche to San Benedetto del Tronto. Although the route features a pair of smaller climbs near the start the final 70km are all extremely flat.
Result
Tirreno-Adriatico, Stage 6: San Severino Marche > Camerino (188km)
1. Isaac del Toro (Mex), UAE Team Emirates – XRG, in 4:46:50
2. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor), Uno-X Mobility, +03s
3. Matteo Jorgenson (USA), Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
4. Giulio Pelizzari (Ita), Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +09s
5. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +11s
6. Santiago Buitrago (Col), Bahrain Victorious, at same time
7. Ben Healy (Ire), EF Education-EasyPost, +21s
8. Magnus Sheffield (USA), Ineos Grenadiers, +25s
9. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +27s
10. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Jayco AlUla, +32s
General Classification
1. Isaac del Toro (Mex), UAE Team Emirates - XRG, in 24:57:20
2. Giulio Pelizzari (Ita), Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +42s
3. Matteo Jorgenson (USA), Visma-Lease a Bike, +43s
4. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor), Uno-X Mobility, +1:15
5. Primož Roglič (Slo), Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:21s
6. Giulio Ciccone (Ita), Lidl-Trek, +1:26
7. Santiago Buitrago (Col), Bahrain Victorious, +1:49
8. Ben Healy (Ire), EF Education-EasyPost, +1:55
9. Magnus Sheffield (USA), Ineos Grenadiers, +2:02
10. Alessandro Pinarello (Ita) NSN Cycling, +2:06
