{"id":484425,"date":"2026-02-16T22:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/484425\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T22:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:00:09","slug":"isaac-del-toro-torches-the-opposition-in-uae-tour-stage-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/484425\/","title":{"rendered":"Isaac del Toro Torches the Opposition in UAE Tour Stage 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mexican sensation Del Toro lights the turbos early, shocks the sprinters, and validates the hype with season-opening win.<\/p>\n

\"Del<\/p>\n

Updated February 16, 2026 06:49AM<\/p>\n

Isaac del Toro<\/a> handed UAE Emirates-XRG victory on day 1 of its home race in sensational fashion Monday.<\/p>\n

The Meckxian Mexican won stage 1 of the UAE Tour<\/a> with a wild long acceleration on a dragging uphill finale that couldn\u2019t be matched by a who\u2019s who of pure speedsters and fast climbers.<\/p>\n

Cees Bol (Decathlon CMA CGM) closed hard behind Del Toro after the 22-year-old launched his canny early kick to finish second. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) was next best in the pick \u2018n\u2019 mix finishing pack in the Liwa Palace.<\/p>\n

Del Toro\u2019s turn of pace Monday would have done his teammate and mentor Tadej Poga\u010dar proud. In fact, the Slovenian attempted the very same move<\/a> on the Liwa finale last year but fell short.<\/p>\n

Arriving on the young phenom\u2019s season debut, Del Toro\u2019s blazing victory only reinforces the notion that he might be the hottest prospect in cycling<\/a> right now.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Speaking at the finish, Del Toro suggested his move Monday wasn\u2019t purely opportunistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking I might have a chance, but it was a dream, not realistic,\u201d Del Toro said. \u201cI was asking teammates if they saw this properly, but it\u2019s just crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 3-4 percent grade of the final 500m was just enough to hand \u201cTorito\u201d his chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing made me think this was for me rather than sprinters,\u201d he said. \u201cI just saw the chance and didn\u2019t want to regret. I just saw the chance, and went full.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DelDel Toro launched early and held on for the win. (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It was a tough start to the UAE Tour for alpha sprinter Jonathan Milan. Lidl-Trek\u2019s burly Italian crashed in the finale but was able to pedal to the finish. He appeared banged up and in some pain.<\/p>\n

Lidl-Trek later confirmed that Milan escaped any fractures but will undergo further monitoring for wounds across his elbow, hip, and knee.<\/p>\n

Del Toro takes the red leader\u2019s jersey into a time trial on Tuesday that tilts firmly in the favor of pre-race favorite Remco Evenepoel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Red Bull\u2019s rampant new leader finished safe in the bunch-kick and is 10 seconds back after his UAE rival hoovered up the bonuses at the finish line.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mexican sensation Del Toro lights the turbos early, shocks the sprinters, and validates the hype with season-opening win.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,68224,85,116022,245310,100857,245311,67883],"class_list":["post-484425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-parent_category-road","tag-sports","tag-tag-isaac-del-toro","tag-tag-jonathan-milan","tag-tag-remco-evenepoel","tag-tag-uae-tour","tag-type-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}