Del Toro, the youngest cyclist to reach the Giro podium in 85 years

▲ At the Angel of Independence, tribute was paid to Isaac (right), while in Rome, the achievements of Del Toro, Simon Yates, and Richard Carapaz were celebrated. Photo: Jorge Ángel Pablo García and AP

Juan Manuel Vázquez

La Jornada Newspaper, Monday, June 2, 2025, p. 9

The tale ended this Sunday. After 21 episodes that led to a narrative that ranged from epic to dramatic, the Giro d'Italia concluded with a series of unexpected events. The most astonishing was the emergence and decline of Isaac del Toro, a 21-year-old from a country with no cycling tradition who emerged before the wide-eyed eyes of his rivals. Without anyone suspecting it, the cyclist from Ensenada appropriated the competition's greatest symbol, the maglia rosa , and, as the leader for 11 stages, traversed rugged roads, fearsome mountains, and battled dangerous foes. His lack of experience took its toll—whether it was an excess of innocence or a clash of egos—but he engaged in a war against Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, while Briton Simon Yates left them behind like a pair of wayward lads. This will be talked about for years, and some are now wondering what good it was for the Baja Californian to be so close to victory and then lose it just a few kilometers from the finish line. This is like asking whether such a bizarre and absurd activity as killing yourself while cycling around Italy for three weeks is even worthwhile.

The writer Dino Buzzati answered it in 1949 for Corriere della Sera : of course it does: (the Giro) is one of the last provinces of fantasy, a bastion of romanticism, which, besieged by the sordid forces of progress, refuses to give up .

And those gaunt cyclists, wrung out like rags, twisted to the last drop, their bodies shattered after three weeks of torture, their souls shattered because they were tormented by the worst thoughts along the way, belong to another breed of humanity. They are mad. Because they could complete the same route without tiring, yet they exhaust themselves like animals; they can go slowly, yet they kill themselves trying to run fast; almost all of them could earn the same amount of money without suffering, yet they prefer torture. Yes, this too is romanticism , Buzzati wrote in one of his Giro deliveries in 1949.

This Sunday's arrival in Rome was merely an epilogue. The climax had taken place on the infamous Colle della Finestre, that treacherous hill that robbed Briton Simon Yates of victory in 2018 and allowed him to reach the summit seven years later. This time, however, the curse fell on the Mexican cyclist, who saw all his dreams of winning a Grand Tour shatter.

It will take time to understand the exchange between Carapaz and Del Toro shortly before the finish line on Saturday. On the descent of that hill, the Mexican asked him to work together against the bandit Yates, who had escaped and already had a one-minute, 40-second lead on that stretch. The Ecuadorian shook his head. He told him there was no point in a fleeting truce to defend his classification. That's when—Del Toro admitted—he realized he had lost the race. Some accused the Carchi native of being selfish, others called the Baja Californian naive. Everyone, without exception, realized that both had been swept aside by the surprise attack and impeccable tactics of the Briton, the 2025 Giro d'Italia champion.

Del Toro finished runner-up, but with the satisfaction of having gone further than anyone expected. He wasn't even a leading prospect for his UAE Emirates team. In the end, he's the youngest cyclist to stand on the podium in the last 85 years.

To look into Del Toro's youthful pedigree on the Giro's podiums is to allude to the mythology of this tour. Especially to the era in which the established Gino Bartali and the emerging Fausto Coppi, who emerged as champion in 1940 when he was just 20 years and eight months old, were battling it out. This rivalry divided an Italy preparing for World War II. Bartali was the exemplary man, while Coppi, left-wing and bohemian, emerged as the perfect hero , as described by the French philosopher Roland Barthes.

Now, the name of that boy from Ensenada, Isaac del Toro, is enunciated as part of that mythology. He caused a sensation in Europe, and in his home country, Mexico, he made them forget that only a couple of other cyclists have managed to pedal European roads. For his compatriots, what El Toro accomplished is memorable in itself.

From the Editorial Staff

La Jornada Newspaper, Monday, June 2, 2025, p. 9

President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo congratulated cyclist Isaac del Toro for finishing second in the Giro d'Italia.

Congratulations to Isaac del Toro for his historic second place in the Giro d'Italia. At 21, he's a source of pride for Mexico. He has many years ahead of him to continue triumphing. "Good luck!" the president wrote on social media.