Del Toro brings UAE to cusp of all-time win record at Trofeo Matteotti
UAE Team Emirates-XRG have now won 84 races in 2025 after Isaac del Toro continued his Italian hot streak with victory at the Trofeo Matteotti. With Tadej Pogacar in action in Canada on Sunday, they could equal HTC's 2009 record tally of 85 wins with a month of the season remaining.
Isaac del Toro can do it all. The Mexican picked up his fourth win in a week at the Trofeo Matteotti on Sunday, beating Rui Costa (EF Education-EasyPost) and Pau Miquel (Kern Pharma) in a reduced sprint in Pescara.
His latest success brings UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s running tally for 2025 to 84 victories. With Tadej Pogačar in action at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, they have a chance to equal HTC’s 2009 all-time record later on Sunday.
Del Toro is enjoying a remarkable vein of late-season form, and his victory in Pescara followed successes at the GP Industria & Artigianato, the Giro della Toscana and the Coppa Sabatini over the past week.
He placed 31st at the Memorial Marco Pantani on Saturday, but he roared back onto the podium with a rasping sprint at the Trofeo Matteotti. Del Toro was part of a seven-man move that went clear on the final climb, and though the group swelled in size on the run-in, he produced a searing turn of speed to claim the victory.
Del Toro has now won 13 races in 2025, including Milano-Torino, the Tour of Austria and the Vuelta a Burgos. He also won a stage of the Giro d’Italia and finished second overall after losing the maglia rosa on the Colle delle Finestre on the final weekend of the race.
The 21-year-old looks set to enjoy an increasingly prominent place in UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Grand Tour plans in 2026 following the departure of Juan Ayuso, who had started the Giro as his team leader.
In the here and now, Del Toro has confirmed his participation in the elite men’s road race at the World Championships in Rwanda. His trade teammate Pogačar is the favourite to defend his title, but on current form, Del Toro and Ayuso look set to be among the Slovenian’s biggest threats in Kigali.
Only Pogačar (17) has won more races for UAE this season than Del Toro. João Almeida has weighed in with ten victories and the Portuguese rider will also finish second overall at the Vuelta a España, where UAE racked up no fewer than seven stage wins.
20 different UAE riders have won races so far in 2025, and they have also won eight of the eleven week-long stage races in the WorldTour this season through Pogačar, Almeida, Ayuso, Jhonatan Narváez and Brandon McNulty.
