Pogacar gifts a Tour de France stage to teammate Del Toro in Barcelona
The four-time champion eases up on the line to hand 22-year-old Isaac del Toro the biggest win of his life on his Tour debut, as Vingegaard keeps the yellow jersey.
Tadej Pogacar had the stage win in his legs and chose to give it away. On the second day of the Tour de France, the four-time champion was perfectly placed to take the sprint into Barcelona but eased up and laid an arm across his young teammate Isaac del Toro, ushering the 22-year-old Mexican across the line first. It was a rare act of on-the-road generosity from cycling's most dominant rider, and it handed del Toro the biggest win of his life on his Tour debut.
The stage itself was a hilly 168-kilometre loop from Tarragona that climbed the 17th-century Montjuïc three times before finishing above the Catalan capital. Del Toro attacked inside the final 700 metres, drawing Pogacar up to him, and when the Slovenian came past he declined to contest the sprint. UAE Team Emirates had their one-two, and del Toro had a moment he will not forget.
"I'm super proud to have the level to manage these kind of situations," an emotional del Toro said afterwards. "I cannot believe I just did this. You cannot believe how it feels for me, especially for my country." A winner of the Tour de l'Avenir who came within a stage of the Giro d'Italia last year, he is increasingly spoken of as the closest thing the peloton has to a young Pogacar.
The gesture cost UAE little in the standings. Jonas Vingegaard, who took yellow with Visma-Lease a Bike's opening time-trial win, finished fourth on the same time and kept the race lead, though the bonuses on offer trimmed his advantage over Pogacar to six seconds. And del Toro, savouring the day, had a message for home: he urged Mexico's footballers to beat England in their World Cup last-16 tie in Mexico City later that evening.
