
If the favorites can intimidate some, this does not apply to Isaac del Toro who in a practically perfect way took his first Tour of Tuscany of his career. This is the second success in a few days for the Mexican rider who once again found himself face to face with Richard Carapaz, a South American duel that smiled once again on the younger rider. Del Toro made the difference about 25 km from the finish during the second climb of Monte Serra, the true major difficulty of the day, and despite Carapaz's attempts, he soon became uncatchable. At the Pontedera finish line, second place for a brilliant Michael Storer (Team Tudor), third, Steff Cras (total energies). Fifth place for Alessandro Pinarello (Vf Group Bardiani), sixth Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana)
The Tour of Tuscany was the second appointment for the exciting month of September of Italian races, a perfect race for climbing passists who challenged each other over almost 190 km with start and finish in Pontedera. After 81.23 km in line, the caravan entered the final circuit of 54 km to be repeated twice and characterized by the Monte Serra climb (8.3 km with an average of 7.2%). After several attacks and counter-attacks, the day's breakaway managed to break away at kilometer 15; Tyler Stites (Caja Rural), Nil Gimeno (Equipo Kern Pharma), Sam Brand (Team Novo Nordisk), Mattia Bais (Team Polti VistiMalta), Adne Holter (Uno X Mobility) gained up to 3'40" advantage over the group that was always controlled by Tudor Procycling Team and UAE Team Emirates XRG.
As expected, on the first climb of Monte Serra the group gave a massive acceleration and in an instant the advantage of the breakaway collapsed. Only Mattia Bais and Adne Holter resisted, while the other 3 fugitives raised the white flag. In the false flat section after Monte Serra, Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar Team) took advantage of the group's slowdown and rejoined the head of the race.
The Tour of Tuscany literally ignited during the second climb of Monte Serra. The UAE Team Emirates XRG first rejoined the escapees and then with Jan Christen literally launched captain Isaac Del Toro. The Mexican made the difference about 700 m from the GPM, managing to crest with about 20" advantage over the counter-attackers. The only ones to try to respond to the Mexican's action were Paul Double (Jayco Alula), Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Richard Carapaz (Ef Education). The Ecuadorian, winner of the 2019 Giro, taking advantage of the downhill section, seemed able to get back to the head of the race, but soon had to raise the white flag. In the final kilometers, Isaac del Toro increased his advantage and managed to resist the attempt to rejoin by a group of 13 riders who settled for the trailing positions. Michael Storer and Steff Cras completed the podium thanks to an attack in the last hundred meters.
For the Mexican of UAE Team Emirates XRG, this is the eleventh seasonal victory, the second in four days, tomorrow he will be at the start of Coppa Sabatini and is widely a candidate to be the number one favorite.
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FINISH ORDER
1 del Toro Isaac UAE Team Emirates-XRG 04:25:38
2 Storer Michael Tudor Pro Cycling Team + 15
3 Cras Steff Team TotalEnergies + 15
4 Pinarello Alessandro VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè + 18
5 Voisard Yannis Tudor Pro Cycling Team + 18
6 Scaroni Christian XDS Astana Team + 18
7 Jegat Jordan Team TotalEnergies + 18
8 Piganzoli Davide Team Polti VisitMalta + 18
9 Carapaz Richard EF Education-EasyPost + 18
10 Formolo Davide Movistar Team + 18