Del Toro chose to crash rather than bring down Pogacar

Isaac del Toro said he chose to crash rather than risk taking down Tadej Pogačar during the incident that disrupted the finale of stage 15 of the Tour de France.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider was caught in a crash with around 20 kilometres remaining, after several riders took an awkward line through a roundabout. Jonas Vingegaard was also involved and was forced to abandon the race with what was later diagnosed as a broken collarbone.

Del Toro was able to continue, but explained after the finish that he had been left with little room to avoid the collision.

“I needed to decide if I crashed myself or went into Tadej, so I decided to crash myself,” he said.

The Mexican initially appeared to have escaped serious injury, but began to feel the effects on the final climb to Plateau de Solaison, where he had claimed victory in the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes the previous month.

“I was pretty much okay, honestly, but after going back into the rhythm, I started to feel pain in my back and my left leg,” he said.

Despite the discomfort, Del Toro remained with Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel when the leading group was reduced on the climb. He attacked twice in the final kilometre, but Evenepoel responded before winning the sprint ahead of Pogačar and Del Toro.

The result moved Del Toro into third place overall and back into the white jersey. Pogačar retained the yellow jersey and has a lead of exactly five minutes over Evenepoel.

There was, however, some confusion within UAE over how the finale should have been approached. Pogačar said the plan had been for Del Toro to contest the sprint, rather than attack from distance.

“There may have been some miscommunication,” the Slovenian said at the press conference. “I actually wanted Isaac to sprint, but he attacked. I tried to give everything and push him on, but it is difficult to communicate with so many people around.”

Del Toro also acknowledged that the closing kilometres had not been executed perfectly.

“Maybe I made quite a few mistakes in the final, but I am super happy with how it went,” he said. “We just need to do a little bit better in the final and everything will be perfect.”

Pogačar had spent much of the climb setting the pace for Del Toro, who was trying to secure a place on the podium. The Mexican said he had been surprised by the willingness of the Tour leader to work on his behalf.

“It is crazy that this guy really wants to commit to helping me,” Del Toro said. “For me, he is an insane person. I really tried to commit today.”