Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) drew first blood in the 2026 UAE Tour, snatching a sensational victory away from the sprinters on stage 1 on Monday.
The Mexican, a leading contender for the overall title, launched a vicious acceleration on a draggy finish that had the pure sprinters gasping for breath.
Cees Bol (Decathlon CMA CGM) came back as Del Toro’s speed faded but the line came soon enough for the 22-year-old to celebrate his first victory on his first appearance of the season.
Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) claimed the final spot on the podium on the same time despite a small gap back from Del Toro and Bol.
“It’s unbelievable, it’s crazy,” Del Toro said. “I don’t know exactly [how it happened] but I just see the chance and I don’t want to regret it.”
The opening stage of the seven-day WorldTour race had to be shortened due to high wind, with the two laps of the cycle track in the Moreeb dunes scrapped for safety reasons, but there was no echelon action and a high-speed bunch finish ensued.
That was until the riders hit the home straight in the final kilometre, which dragged up at a gradient of 5% and brought the puncheurs into play against the sprint trains.
Ineos Grenadiers were in pole position, leading out Sam Welsford, but the Australian sank like a stone as accelerations came over the top. When Axel Huens (Groupama-FDJ) almost accidentally opened a gap, Del Toro sensed his opportunity and came surging through the middle of the pack, opening a lead of several bike lengths in the process.
Bol led the grinding charge from behind and it looked like Del Toro was fading as he sat in the saddle but he managed to lift himself for one final surge in the final 30 metres, which took him over the line by a wheel.
“Yeah,” Del Toro said when asked if his move was planned. “Quite honestly I was thinking maybe it’s a chance, but maybe a dream not realistic. It’s just crazy.”
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), a leading contender for the stage, was taken out of contention by a crash through a roundabout just outside the flamme rouge – the Italian finished the stage but in some pain.
Del Toro pulls on the first leader’s jersey of the 2026 UAE Tour and helps himself to 10 bonus seconds, securing an early advantage over key GC rival Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe) ahead of Tuesday’s stage 2 time trial.
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How it unfolded
The peloton out on the road in the desert during stage 1 (Image credit: Getty Images)
The opening stage of the 2026 UAE Tour made its way south from Madinat Zayed Majlis to Liwa for an extended run through the sand dunes. The key feature of the stage was set to be the 18km cycle track at Tel Moreeb, which was supposed to be tackled twice but which had to be cut entirely mid-way through the stage due to high winds and the safety threat posed on the exposed, narrow track.
That left a 118km stage in which the wind caused some anxiety but no real action. Instead, it was a rather uneventful affair, with Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Premier Tech) making up the day’s one-man breakaway. More than 10km had passed at the start of the stage without an attack, before the Swiss rider decided to step up and go it alone.
Dillier built a lead of more than two minutes as he reached Liwa for the first time with 90km to go to take the intermediate sprint, which was not contested by the peloton. The landscape changed as the race entered the dunes, with sand blowing across the road but not with such ferocity as to fire the race into life. Still, the Tel Moreeb cycle track was deemed too dangerous and the riders were forced to adjust to a new route, shorter by 26km.
Dillier was caught with 31km remaining, shortly before the second intermediate sprint where Milan clipped out to take maximum points. It was a quiet run-in before the pace picked up in the final 10km, with Ineos setting up shop on the right-hand side of the road, Decathlon on the right, and Lidl-Trek scrambling to get organised in the middle.
The key moment in the final came with a big left-hand turn through a roundabout with 1.5km to go, where NSN punched their way to the front. Several spots further back, a touch of shoulders brought two riders down right in front of Milan, who had nowhere to go but flying over them and out of the running.
Ineos looked strong with still free riders on the front for the final kilometre, but the gradient was steadily starting to count against them. As Welsford’s train was swarmed, things became chaotic, and Del Toro sensed the opportunity was there to try something.
He produced the sort of turn of pace that has already dazzled rivals in his young career so far and while he couldn’t carry that speed all the way to the line, it was enough – both for the stage win and to send a warning shot to his rivals for the rest of this race.
Del Toro in the first red leader’s jersey of the race (Image credit: Getty Images)Results
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