'I need to believe more in myself' - Del Toro shines in Pogacar's absence at UAE Tour

Del Toro enjoyed a scintillating 2025 season, coming within a mountain pass of winning the Giro d’Italia and then recovering from that disappointment to notch up 14 wins from his final 28 race days of the campaign.

He has started the new season in the same vein. After denying the sprinters with a surprise late attack on stage 1, another late charge carried Del Toro to a close second behind Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) at Jebel Mobrah two days later.

On Jebel Hafeet on Saturday, Del Toro knew that he needed to put 15 seconds into Tiberi to wrest control of this UAE Tour, and he started his onslaught with a devastating attack with just over 4km to go. 

Tiberi impressed by holding Del Toro’s wheel even when the Mexican weaved from side to side in a bid to shake him off, but it was simply a stay of execution. On the steepest ramps with 2.5km to go, Del Toro kicked again, and this time Tiberi had to surrender. 

“It was 2.5k to go, so I thought, ‘Now I need to keep going until the line,’ and when I saw the gap, I tried to believe and suffer until the line, to increase the gap as much as I could,” said Del Toro, who won the stage by 21 seconds from Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla), with Tiberi a further 10 seconds back.

“This is just a mentality game, you try to be confident enough to keep trying,” Del Toro said of his succession of attacks. “And of course, if one time it doesn’t work you need to still have to believe in the end that you are able to do it, no. Today we were not confident that we would win, but we came in with a mentality that we would work for it.”

UAE teammate Adam Yates teed up his winning move, and Del Toro would go on to break the Briton’s record time for the ascent of Jebel Hafeet. He carries a lead of 20 seconds over Tiberi into Sunday’s flat finale in Abu Dhabi, where he should seal the first WorldTour stage race victory of his career.

Del Toro’s season will be a steady drumbeat towards his Tour de France debut in July, where he will line up in support of Pogačar. After putting 52 seconds into Remco Evenepoel here, Del Toro might even begin to dream of joining his leader on the final podium in Paris.

“I think today is one of the top three victories in my career, it’s so special,” Del Toro said. “When you win with a team like this, it’s even more special. But now is time to realise that I’m working for it and I need to believe more in myself day by day.”