Updated June 15, 2026 07:10AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Isaac del Toro<\/a> just blew the doors off the Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes<\/a> with eye-popping power numbers and cool efficiency.<\/p>\n And no one was happier than Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sure, Paul Seixas<\/a> was already out of the picture \u2014 the French phenom abandoned Sunday after crashing heavily the day before. We\u2019ll never know how that duel might have played out.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n The 22-year-old Mexican crushed the final two summit finishes, won the overall, and reminded everyone why insiders still consider him the most gifted young stage racer in the peloton right now.<\/p>\n \u201cTo win a race like this against such strong competition gives me a lot of confidence,\u201d Del Toro said. \u201cThe Tour de France will be something completely new for me, but this result shows that we are moving in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n Now he heads to his first Tour de France<\/a> alongside Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n As if the Slovenian needed any more help.<\/p>\n For weeks, the Tour chatter was building around Seixas and his dream to win France\u2019s first yellow jersey since Bernard Hinault \u2014 the Badger \u2014 last won in 1985.<\/p>\n Then Jonas Vingegaard won the Giro d\u2019Italia, and suddenly it looked like Poga\u010dar might have a real fight on his hands in July.<\/p>\n In the span of 48 hours, Del Toro turned the pre-Tour hype on its head.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be ready to do my job in the Tour,\u201d Del Toro said Sunday, adding that he\u2019s ready to help his boss. \u201cFull, full-gas.\u201d<\/p>\n Del Toro gives Poga\u010dar something he\u2019s never truly had before: a pure mountain killer arriving at the Tour in race-winning form.<\/p>\n Vingegaard has had Sepp Kuss, the Colorado \u201cMailman\u201d who\u2019s been there for every one of the Dane\u2019s grand tour victories.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar has counted on Adam Yates, Jo\u00e3o Almeida, Rafa Majka and Brandon McNulty, all strong riders to be sure. None of them arrived at a Tour having just demolished a peloton full of Tour de France contenders across the French Alps.<\/p>\n And unlike most super-domestiques, Del Toro arrives with three major stage-race wins under his belt, with the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, and now the Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes, three races that Poga\u010dar\u2019s also won.<\/p>\n Del Toro leaves France after pummeling every one of Poga\u010dar\u2019s top Tour challengers who was in the race.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something that puts peace in your mind when you are going in the right direction,\u201d Del Toro said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to push super hard in my mind. I just want to go a little bit more with the flow and see how things are for the Tour de France.\u201d<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar has never truly needed help in the high mountains.<\/p>\n Now that he has it, good luck to everyone else.<\/p>\n Del Toro was doing his best Poga\u010dar imitation all weekend.<\/p>\n On Sunday\u2019s final climb to Plateau de Solaison, Del Toro attacked with nearly 9km still to race, erased a 47-second deficit, and simply rode away.<\/p>\n What made it more striking was how he did it. Del Toro barely came out of the saddle on the long, grinding climb \u2014 Pogi style.<\/p>\n Juan Ayuso tried to follow, but nobody could.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he went from so far away, I was hoping for what happened yesterday, just the other way around,\u201d Ayuso told FloBikes<\/em>. \u201cHe was on another level today.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if Sunday was his best climbing effort ever, Del Toro was characteristically humble.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, still not.\u201d<\/p>\n The numbers backed it up.<\/p>\nUAE gets its mojo back<\/h2>\n
Dauphin\u00e9 demolition<\/h2>\n