History-Making Win for Del Toro as Mexican Stamps Authority on Tirreno-Adriatico

Winning deprived a friend of a home region success on Saturday, but Isaac Del Toro parked personal relationships on stage 6 of Tirreno-Adriatico.

The race leader made history at the uphill finish in Camerino, putting his rivals to the sword inside the final kilometer, Matteo Jorgenson included.

The American put in a darting attack when Giulio Pellizzari was caught 500 meters from the line, dropping all bar Del Toro. However the race leader responded with a dominant move inside 200 meters to go, jettisoning Jorgenson and finishing three seconds clear at the finish.

Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) caught the American just before the line and pipped him for second place, with the lost time bonus preventing Jorgenson from moving from third to second overall.

As for Pellizzari, repeated efforts inside the final 2.3km didn’t pay off, with a victorious Del Toro looking somewhat sheepish at the finish in what is the Italian’s home region.

“It is mixed feelings,” he said, having hugged his friend after the line. “But I am happy and proud of the job the guys did today.

“We have been quite close two days [taking second on stages 2 and 5], but today was very nice, honestly. I am super happy, but also I have mixed feelings. It is pretty strange but this is just for the guys and the staff. They did all the job and I am super proud to be here now.”

His victory was the 24th of his career and the first-ever triumph for a Mexican on a stage of Tirreno.

It leaves him 42 seconds ahead of Pellizzari and 43 in front of Jorgenson with one day to go. Johannessen is at 1:15, leaving him a lot of work to do to get onto the podium.

A frustrating miss for US star

Following Paris-Nice GC wins in 2024 and 2025, Jorgenson has impressed at Tirreno-Adriatico. He was back in 16th in the opening day TT but has steadily moved up the GC. He was fourth starting Friday’s stage and moved up one slot when he was the only rider able to stay with Del Toro.

He looked sharp in the final of stage 6, waiting when his teammate, an improving Wout van Aert, leaped clear with 4.4km to go, just before the final climb.

The Belgian was looking sharp but he was soon caught by Irish attacker Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), who dangled out front as Pellizzari unleashed his first attack with 2.3km to go.

The Italian surged again with 1.7km remaining and reached Healy with just under a kilometer to go. Del Toro hadn’t matched that second move, prompting questions about how well he was going, but he paced himself before committing, catching Pellizzari with 500 meters remaining and dropping his friend.

Jorgenson then made his move, gapping all bar Del Toro, but was no match for the race leader inside 200m to go.

Del Toro admitted afterwards he wasn’t certain about bringing Pellizzari back.

“I wasn’t sure, because it was super hard. I know he is super strong so I just want to keep in mind that we cannot see [that] he goes far away,” he said. “I just tried to bring him back, but it was super tough.”

Sunday’s final stage includes two climbs but the final two thirds of the day is either downhill or flat. Is Del Toro confident a bunch sprint will happen, sealing his second stage race win of the season?

“In the last years it was like this when I have been here, so let’s see how it is,” he said. “I want to be attentive and secure the job.”