The Isaac del Toro-Giulio Pellizzari bromance and Tirreno-Adriatico rivalry continued on stage 5, with the two set for a battle for the final overall victory on Saturday's second hilly stage in Le Marche to Camerino.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader said he "fixed the mistake" he made on Thursday, when he lost the leader's blue jersey to Pellizzari by two seconds. In truth, del Toro more than fixed it, attacking with a calculated show of force and determination on the final climb to the finish in Mombaroccio.
He finished 19 seconds ahead of Pellizzari, who admitted he was hit by cramps and a six-second time bonus for second place behind lone stage winner Michael Valgren (EF Education-Easypost), meaning del Toro leads Pellizzari by 23 seconds.
"I was a little angry that I lost the jersey yesterday due to my own mistake, so it's nice to get it back," del Toro said after the stage.
"We knew the climb would be super hard, so we wanted to put everyone under pressure. We did super good with the team, we work so hard to have this. I'm super happy because everything paid off."
Del Toro and Pellizzari are both 22 years old, are race rivals but friends off the bike and even neighbours in the San Marino microstate where they officially reside.
At the finish of the stage, Cyclingnews saw how del Toro searched out for Pellizzari, and they exchanged high-fives in recognition of each other's performance. Del Toro perhaps landed a psychological blow, but perhaps also wanted to thank Pellizzari for the push he gave him with 11km to go, as the Mexican took a very late natural break on the move.
Del Toro and Pellizzari are only rivals out on the road when wearing lycra, and Saturday's stage will decide their Tirreno-Adriatico battle.
Del Toro won the 2023 Tour de L'Avenir when they clashed as young amateur riders and outshone Pellizzari again in the 2025 Giro d'Italia. However, stage 6 starts in Pellizzarri's hometown of San Severino in the Le Marche hills, and he will surely try to attack his rival on home roads.
The 186 km stage includes the 1,465-metre high Sassotetto climb, but then descends to the valley roads and heads north to Camerino for two laps of a 29.1km circuit that includes three climbs up to the finish on a typical Le Marche 'Muro' (Wall) finish.
The climb to the line is only three kilometres long, but the first part is at 13.1%, the middle kilometres ease to 2.8% before 650 metres at 18.6%, and the final 350 metres at 9.4%.
Pellizzari will have to distance del Toro if he wants to win, while the Mexican can ride a more tactical race. However, both will have to mark Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), who is third overall at 34 seconds, with the top ten riders close, within 90 seconds.
"Saturday will be a big day. I need to be super careful and attentive to all the small things that go on around me," del Toro suggested.
"I think everybody is up there. All the top seven on GC are quite close. I would just love to finish off the job and win overall."
