'We'll manage the situation' - Isaac del Toro loses Juan Ayuso but keeps pink at Giro d'Italia

Isaac del Toro carries a lead of 41 seconds into the final three days of the Giro d’Italia, but the Mexican will be without the support of UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Juan Ayuso for the last mountain stages of the race.

Ayuso abandoned the Giro early on stage 18 due to injuries sustained in a crash earlier in the race and a bee sting he had suffered on Wednesday’s leg to Bormio. The Spaniard had begun the Giro as UAE’s team leader, but the mantle has since passed to Del Toro, who has held the maglia rosa for ten days.

“We will manage the situation with the team, but of course it’s not nice to lose a rider,” Del Toro told reporters in Cesano Maderno on Thursday evening. “But I think we’re going to be okay. We’ll try to do our best as a team. We’ll work for it.”

Del Toro struggled in the finale of stage 16 to San Valentino, where Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) made significant inroads into his overall lead, but he bounced back the following day to claim stage victory in Bormio.

“Maybe I didn’t have the best legs, maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the head,” Del Toro said of his travails at San Valentino. “There are a lot of things I cannot control, but of course we want to be better in the next days.”

The 21-year-old finished safely in the peloton on stage 18, which was the most straightforward leg of the Giro’s demanding final week, but now two tough mountain stages stand between him and the final overall victory.

The two days offer different kinds of tests. On Friday, the gruppo faces five climbs en route to Champoluc in the Val d’Aosta, while on stage 20, the steep gravel road up the Colle delle Finestre precedes the finish in Sestriere.

“I don’t know which one will be the hardest day,” Del Toro said. “They’re two big days, and I just want to be there. I don’t know which will cause more suffering, but it’s not about the difficulty of the stage – it’s more about how the teams will play.”

Carapaz has shown his aggression and form throughout this race, and the Ecuadorian looks the man most likely to prevent Del Toro from becoming the youngest Giro winner since Fausto Coppi in 1940.

Simon Yates (Visma | Lease a Bike) lies third overall, just 51 seconds back, while Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech) is fourth at 1:57. 2021 winner Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) seems out of contention at 4:43, but he might be minded to throw caution to the wind with a long-range attack.

“I don’t know how the situation will be – I cannot predict the future of course, but if I can be in front with the GC riders and more or less in control with the team, I will be happy enough,” said Del Toro, who is familiar with Friday’s roads from racing the Giro della Valle d’Aosta as an amateur. “I think I know them quite a bit, so if I have good feelings, for sure I will be up there.”