{"id":501904,"date":"2026-02-24T23:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/501904\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T23:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:13:09","slug":"isaac-del-toro-could-become-even-bigger-than-tadej-pogacar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/501904\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIsaac del Toro could become even bigger than Tadej Pogacar\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UAE Tour<\/a> is over<\/a>, and the fact Isaac del Toro<\/a> finished the race on the top step is a huge boost for UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG. The Mexican was understandably delighted with his overall victory, while his rivals admitted they were impressed by what the still-young Del Toro produced over the week. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really special to win my first WorldTour stage race,\u201d said the UAE Emirates\u2013XRG leader. \u201cI\u2019m super happy with the work the guys did \u2014 they helped me so much. I couldn\u2019t be prouder. It was an amazing feeling riding today in Abu Dhabi, just like the other day in the streets of Dubai with the skyline in the background. It was emotional on the bike.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final stage ended up going to sprinter Jonathan Milan, but Del Toro\u2019s focus was on sealing the overall. \u201cI liked that the race was so fast. I\u2019ll never forget this UAE Tour,\u201d said Del Toro. \u201cYesterday on Jebel Hafeet we simply followed the plan. It\u2019s not easy being the leader in this team, because everyone is so good, but it\u2019s a huge satisfaction to win our team\u2019s home race.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned a lot during this race, and I\u2019m really happy that the hard work paid off,\u201d he continued, already looking ahead. \u201cNow I\u2019ll take some rest at home before I start preparing for my next goals: Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico. I\u2019m taking my time and building everything step by step,\u201d said Del Toro, who also tried to temper expectations despite plans to ride the Tour de France later this year.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"isaac-del-toro\"\/<\/p>\n

Del Toro showed his muscle at the UAE Tour.<\/p>\n

Del Toro and Plapp content with podium placesAntonio Tiberi<\/a> beat Del Toro at the first uphill finish, but after repeated attempts across the week, the Bahrain Victorious leader ultimately had to concede. \u201cA week ago I would have signed for second place,\u201d said Tiberi. \u201cThis final result \u2014 together with a stage win \u2014 is great, especially at the start of the season. If I can continue like this, I can be ambitious for the rest of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tiberi then made a bold prediction about the overall winner. \u201cIsaac is a great champion \u2014 maybe he can become even bigger than Tadej Pogacar,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone saw him last year, at a super young age, almost win the Giro d\u2019Italia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third place went to Luke Plapp<\/a> (Jayco AlUla), who was pleased to show his level early in the season. \u201cAs an Australian it\u2019s nice to be able to show my form from the summer,\u201d Plapp explained. \u201cI\u2019ve got good memories of my podium here three years ago with Remco Evenepoel and Adam Yates. The field was stronger this year, so I\u2019m proud and happy to be back in the top three.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UAE Tour is over, and the fact Isaac del Toro finished the race on the top step…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[173902,64,63,784,93896,6493,85,180426],"class_list":{"0":"post-501904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-antonio-tiberi","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-isaac-del-toro","13":"tag-luke-plapp","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uae-tour"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501904","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=501904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}