'Like a dream' - Del Toro goes one better than Pogacar in UAE Tour opener

Twelve months ago, Pogačar couldn’t resist accelerating on the gently climbing finishing straight at the UAE Tour, but he would be swept up by the sprinters within sight of the line. 

On Monday, Del Toro replicated the move, but he managed to go the full distance, ripping clear of the peloton with 300m to go and fending off a rapidly closing Cees Bol (Decathlon CMA CGM) to steal an early march at the UAE Tour.

“It was crazy, it’s just something unbelievable,” Del Toro said afterwards, acknowledging that he had planned the effort beforehand. “Yeah, quite honestly. I was thinking maybe it was a chance, but just like a dream, not something realistic. Even during the stage, I was asking my teammates if they saw this properly, but it’s just crazy.”

Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) was the favourite for victory on stage that was shortened by 26km due to high winds, but the Italian was eliminated from the running when he crashed with a kilometre to go.

When Ineos Grenadiers took up the reins for Sam Welsford on the drag to the line, it still looked as though the fast men would prevail, but Del Toro sensed his opportunity when the gradient began to bite, and he unleashed a supersonic acceleration.

“I don’t know exactly [what I was thinking], but I just saw the chance, and I didn’t want any regrets,” Del Toro said. “I just saw the chance, some riders opening to the right and to the left and then I went full.”

Del Toro’s victory puts him in the red jersey of race leader, while the winner’s time bonus means he will start Tuesday’s 12km time trial with a 10-second buffer on Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), the man most likely to deny him overall victory here.

The victory was Del Toro’s 22nd as a professional and a continuation of his dizzying sequence in the latter part of 2025, when he collected 14 wins in the final months of the campaign. The win augurs well for his week at the UAE Tour and for a 2026 season that will see him make his Tour de France debut alongside Pogačar.

“It’s unbelievable, honestly. It’s crazy,” said Del Toro, who had a similarly fast start to his debut pro season in 2024 when he snatched victory on the second day of the Tour Down Under.

“It’s like I did at the Tour Down Under – it’s something that you want to do, and when you do it, it’s even better.”

The win also continues UAE’s astonishing start to the new season. After clocking up a record-breaking 95 wins last year, the team’s tally for 2026 already stands at 11 – and Pogačar’s seasonal debut is still three weeks away.