One year on from Tadej Pogacar’s demolition job of the competition at his maiden Giro d’Italia, another young climber was having his moment in the sun. The comparisons were inevitable as soon as Isaac Del Toro appeared on the scene: lean, explosive, with a natural gift for spotting his moment, an obvious thrill for racing.
But as the Mexican progressed through this Giro d’Italia it felt like the Tadej Pogacar comparisons weighed lightly on his shoulders. The 21-year-old seemed a changed figure from the wide-eyed figure who pulled on the maglia rosa in disbelief on stage nine, at the end of an audacious attack on one of the race’s toughest stages, the gravel-dotted run into Siena.
