A Giro Thrown Away

It was all much too late

We witnessed what was perhaps the greatest mental and tactical failure ever seen in a Grand Tour on Stage 20 of the 2025 GIro d’Italia. The youngest and first-ever Mexican Maglia Rosa in the 116-year history of the race, Issac Del Toro, who had held the race leader’s jersey since his revelatory ride into Siena 12-days before on Stage 9, who had defied expectations of a physical collapse in what was the hardest final week in the history of the race, or perhaps any race, with over 24,000 total meters of climbing, made a series of inexplicable tactical blunders on the race’s final major mountain, ones that cost him the Giro he had so richly deserved to win.

Del Toro had been a marvel up to those fatal moments on the Colle delle FInestre, the penultimate and highest mountain (2,178 meters, 7,146 feet) of this brutally designed Giro. For 11-days he had endured the exhausting protocol and media responsibilities that accompany the honor of being in Pink, ones which can add as much as three-hours to a rider’s day. That’s somewhere around 25 to 30 hours taken away from rest and recuperation which is why French directing great, Cyrille Guimard, termed the Yellow Jersey as “Poison, something you only take at the last possible moment.”

While Del Toro was basking in the glory and duties of race leader, second-placed Richard Carapaz, the Ecuadorian 2021 Olympic Road Champion and 2019 Giro winner, was lurking at 41” behind, eschewing interviews, preparing for the final week. General wisdom had it that the young Mexican was too green to handle the deep endurance needed to survive the unending series of mountains on the menu, and that the experience and depth of Carapaz would prevail. How wrong he proved them, handling every Carapaz attack over the week with a maturity and aplomb beyond his years, even handing the Ecuadorian a decisive mano-mano defeat to win in Bormio on Stage 19, gifting us with a most memorable victory salute.

Stage 20, the final true battle of the race, exploded into action with a large group escaping, as expected, none of whom were of any danger to the General Classification leaders. Except, Wout van Aert, the monstrously strong winner in Siena and the man who has orchestrated so many Grand Tour wins for his Visma team, was in the group. His teammate, Brit Simon Yates, who had been somewhat invisible this Giro yet sitting pretty in third overall at 1’21”, was the only one of the top four to have a man in front to help towards the end of the race when things came back together. The others were racing from the back.

Carapaz’s EF Education-EasyPost team blasted into the base of of the FInestre, blowing the race to pieces and in short order, only Carapaz and Del Toro, both isolated with no teamates, seemed to be left to contest the Pink Jersey fight. Del Toro marked Carapaz, as he should have, staying on his wheel, responding to the constant attacks with measured calm. It was for Carapaz to dump the young Mexican who had every right to play defense by sitting behind. Carapaz seemed to tire of the game, at one point slowing, perhaps gathering his forces for a series of final attacks on the final 7-kilometers of steep dirt road that led to the top. In a plot twist, Yates suddenly appeared on the screen, climbing at warp speed (he ended up setting then record for the climb, breaking an hour) passing the bickering duo, making for the top with everything he had.

Which is when Del Toro threw the race away. You don’t let a Vuelta a España winner ride away from you when he is so close on the GC. Somehow, Del Toro - and clearly the race radios were not working - thought that Carapaz would put his all into defending second place. He somehow didn’t understand that only victory matters, that second or third would be the same for someone of Carapaz’s accomplishments. And he really didn’t think that Van Aret had probably made it over the top and that Yates would have a personal locomotive to take him to the finish in Sestriére. That was a train he couldn’t miss, yet, he stubbornly remained on Carapaz’s wheel, the Ecaudorian not believing what was happening and not about to fix the error for his rival. The two almost came to a standstill at one point while Yates continued to take chunks of time out of them. Sean Kelly, the great racer and commentator, who is usually so measured and understanding when riders are in difficulty, was clearly flummoxed actually calling Del Toro’s actions “Stupid.”

Yates crested the summit, the Cima Coppi, descended, caught up with Van Aert who went mental on the front, towing his teammate so hard that by the finish, Yates had pulled more that five-minutes out of Del Toro and won the Giro. Then, things got even worse.

Del Toro came to the finish line, popped off a snappy little sprint, seemed delighted with his day, mugging for the cameras smiling a brightly, while his team boss, Mauro Gianetti, tried to smile too through the most tightly clenched jaws imaginable. Robbie McKewn, another fantastic Green Jersey winning commentator looked truly shocked, calling the end-of-race performance, “Weird”, saying it a few times in fact. La Gazzetta dello Sport termed his actions “Conceited”, saying that he lost the race through “the sin of pride”.

Whew! Whatever happened, whatever failures of the team - someone put it that perhaps they’d become too accustomed to Pogačar being able to do whatever he wanted to- this was not a case of “Win some lose some” as Del Toro put it in his interview. The Giro d’Italia is not “Some” race. It is one of the greatest, most prestigious sporting event of the world and its loss, eventually when the realization hits him, will scar Del Toro for life. Because these opportunities don’t return in a logical manner, one never knows what the future will bring, especially in a sport as treacherous as cycling.

Just ask Simon Yates, who was in exactly the same position as Del Toro, seven long years ago, when he collapsed physically on the FInestre, losing to Chris Froome a race he was certain to win. That loss sat in his craw for all those years, and, as was said many times on TV, this was his redemption. Del Toro does go away with the Youth Prize and second overall, so of course a fantastic performance. And had he collapsed as did Yates all those years ago, we’d be singing his praises. But I and others remain bewildered and saddened by the events.

The GIro is a dish made up of beauty and drama, always with a bit of “polemica” thrown in as spice. This 2025 edition was a feast for us all. Thank you racers and organizers for gifting us such a treat.