Isaac del Toro soars to second place at Clásica Jaén

With a ferocious attack in the finale of the Spanish one-day race, Isaac del Toro claimed second place at Clásica Jaén for UAE Team Emirates-XRG on Monday afternoon. The young Mexican achieved the best result possible given an ill-timed puncture suffered by Brandon McNulty as the finish approached.

Racing across 33.1km of olive trails in the province of Jaén, UAE Team Emirates-XRG produced a show of force throughout the course of the 169.2km-long afternoon, but the gravel roads dealt a cruel blow late on.

Having been out front with eventual race winner Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) and Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma) for nigh on 45km – and with the race victory looked set to be contested amongst the trio – McNulty struck the wrong piece of sterrato and fell victim to a puncture, just 15km from the line.

Try as he might despite the situation, the American could not keep up with the pair on the rough descent that followed. In turn, he was forced to seek help from the neutral service motorbike and return to the (reduced) peloton behind.

Not content with allowing misfortune to spoil the day for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Del Toro produced a lung-busting attack from the pack and went off in search of Kwiatkowski and Ruiz. The Mexican was aware that the gap would be nigh on impossible to close, standing at around 50 seconds, but still he fought.

As the finish approached, Kwiatkowski rid himself of Ruiz’s company, with Del Toro following suit in catching – and dropping – the final survivor of the day’s breakaway. The pursuit of Kwiatkowski would prove futile at this point, but Del Toro dug deep to deliver UAE Team Emirates-XRG pride in the face of adversity.

Crossing over the line a little over 30 seconds behind the former world champion, Del Toro was pleased with his day’s work to finish runner-up on just his second outing of the campaign.

Del Toro: “The team and me were trying to control the race all day with a lot of numbers but in the end we didn’t have the best luck. It was pretty ok that we can manage second place, it’s not what we are here for but it’s still super good. We die trying and I’m happy for the support of the team and the staff, they are always here for us. I cannot do more sometimes.

“After the descent, we knew McNulty had a flat tyre and we tried to do something to approach the gap. But the difference was quite big. Still, we tried and, but the gap was very big and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Earlier in the day, the full UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad had made their presence known in the Andalusian Classic that has quickly become a fan favourite.

Taking inspiration from the white roads of Strade Bianche, the Clásica Jaén takes the riders across the gnarly olive trails of the Jaén province.

With UAE Team Emirates-XRG finishing 1-3-4 on its first appearance at the race in 2023, before claiming another top-5 through Tim Wellens last time out, there was certainly an expectation of the Emirati squad before the start of proceedings. Living up to their billing, Wellens and co. were at the sharp end of events for the entire race.

Matthias Schwarzbacher and Adrià Pericas set the tone early on to position their teammates towards the head of the peloton. But as the gravel reared its head in the final 100km, it was down to Wellens, McNulty, Del Toro, Marc Soler and Igor Arrieta to lay down the hammer.

It was Soler that first struck a blow on the second sector of gravel, stringing out the peloton on a nasty uphill climb that left many saying their final goodbyes to the front of the race.

Over the next 30km, Soler combined with Wellens, Del Toro and Arrieta to make life difficult for their rivals, before McNulty darted from the pack in a two-up attack alongside Kwiatkowski. The pair would quickly gain an advantage of over 40 seconds to the peloton and one by one, drop those riders who had formed the day’s breakaway.

Entering the last 45km, only Ruiz could stand the pace of Kwiatkowski and McNulty, whilst Soler, Wellens, Del Toro and Arrieta expertly marked out counter-attacks from within the peloton. This anchor work was especially impressive from Arrieta, with the 22-year-old rebounding from a crash earlier in the race.

The balance of the race would remain the same through much of the final hour, with the likes of Visma-Lease a Bike and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team stunted by the excellent work of McNulty’s teammates. It was ultimately not to be for the American on the day, but after he had bid Kwiatkowski and Ruiz adieu, Del Toro more than stepped up to the plate.

With the 21-year-old scaling the day’s podium in second place, UAE Team Emirates-XRG also placed 10th through Wellens – two results that were more than earned on a tough but exhilerating parcours.

Clásica Jaén results

1. Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) 4:00:25

2. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +31″

3. Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma) +46″

Meanwhile, across the world in the Middle East, Tadej Pogačar led UAE Team Emirates-XRG into the opening stage of the UAE Tour. As the home race for the Emirati squad, this would always be a special moment for the team and so it proved.

Despite stage 1 being earmarked for the pure sprinters, Pogačar is never one to shy away from a challenge and as such, the world champion began his season in style. Helped by his teammates Jay Vine, Florian Vermeersch, Mikkel Bjerg, Rune Herregodts and Domen Novak, the Slovenian hit the front of the peloton inside the final 40km and laid down the gauntlet in a period of crosswinds.

Although the peloton remained largely together, the pack was certainly strung out and the pace was high enough to see a number of high-profile sprinters put into difficulty.

Pogačar’s hard work, and that of his teammates, was on behalf of team sprinter Sebastián Molano. The Colombian positioned himself in the wheel of his teammates as the pace ramped up, but unfortunately the 30-year-old suffered a nasty crash as the finish approached.

With Molano out of contention for the stage win, Pogačar made a bold acceleration of his own inside the final kilometre and was able to come across the line in 10th position. It was an eventful opening stage for the two-time winner, whilst his Colombian teammate battled bravely to finish the stage following his crash.

A further update on Molano’s condition will be relayed in due course.

Pogačar: “We were a bit unlucky with Sebas crashing, and it didn’t go as planned in the end in the final. But otherwise, we had good legs, we tried and it was a nice race.

“I am looking forward to tomorrow, it’s going to be the first real long effort of the season. The feeling is okay, there was a lot of work done in the winter and I hope it pays off tomorrow in the time trial.”

UAE Tour stage 1 results

1. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) 3:31:34

2. Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) s.t

3. Tobias Lund Andresen (Team Picnic PostNL) s.t

10. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t

UAE Tour general classification after stage 1

1. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) 3:31:34

2. Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +4″

3. Tobias Lund Andresen (Team Picnic PostNL) +6″

10. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +10″