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Isaac Del Toro is set to win Tirreno-Adriatico after winning Saturday’s penultimate stage and increasing his lead at the top of the general classification.
UAE rider Del Toro won his first stage in the “Race of the Two Seas” and moved 42 seconds in front of Giulio Pellizzari ahead of Sunday’s finale, a charge to beachfront town San Benedetto del Tronto which is set up for sprinters.
The 22-year-old made his move on the third and final climb to Camerino which ended a punishing 189 kilometres of riding that featured 3,900 metres of elevation gain.
Pellizzari tried to wipe out the 23-second gap which separated him from Del Toro at the start of the day, attacking on the climatic climb which started 3km from the finish line.
But in the final 500 metres he was dropped by Tobias Johannessen and Del Toro, the latter of whom surged to the line to effectively win his second stage race of 2026 after the UAE Tour last month.
Del Toro is on hot form but he is still most famous for losing last year’s Giro d’Italia on the penultimate day of racing after holding the race lead from stage nine.
“Today was a very hard stage and the team rode incredibly well all day. They kept the race under control and gave me the perfect position for the final climb, said Del Toro.
“When the attacks started I tried to stay calm and then go at the right moment. To win the stage and extend the lead here means a lot, but we still need to stay focused for the final day. I dedicate this win to the teammates and all the staff who have been incredible all week.”
Godon stars in seventh stage: France’s Dorian Godon won Saturday’s shortened seventh and penultimate stage of the Paris-Nice with Dane Jonas Vingegaard poised for overall victory in a race thrown into chaos because of bad weather.
On the eve of the final stage in Nice, two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard still leads the general classification with a commanding 3min 22sec advantage on Colombian Dani Martinez.
“I never thought I’d win a mountain stage one day on Paris-Nice,” joked Godon after triumphing in what was supposed to be the queen stage of the “Race to the Sun”.
But the penultimate stage was slashed from the planned 138.7km because of too much snow at the 1600m summit that was cut out of the race.
Lashing rain on the Promenade des Anglais on Saturday morning meant organisers scratched the opening sector too.
“It was raining heavily, there were a lot of stones on the road. We absolutely couldn’t take that risk,” explained race director Yannick Talabardon.
A snowplow had cleared the road in the medieval mountain village of Isola, where there had been snowfall in the morning.
Even the impromptu start was chaotic, as the race’s technical director Thierry Gouvenou was nearly knocked over by the peloton.
And a few metres later, several riders went down at a roundabout.
During the team presentation in the downpour, many riders were reluctant to start.
Some preferred to laugh about it with Australian Jensen Plowright arriving with a scuba diving mask on his nose and French rider Axel Zingle in socks and sandals.
The peloton breezed through just 47 kilometres albeit wrapped up in all weather gear in the Nice region usually known for balmy conditions at this time of year.
Ineos rider Godon won the sprint finish ahead of Eritrean Biniam Girmay and Dutchman Cees Bol after only an hour of racing, securing France’s first victory in this 84th edition.
“In my opinion, we could have stopped 10 kilometres earlier, because it was very slippery at the end and we saw several crashes,” said Vingegaard.
But that did not diminish Godon’s joy, whose only regret was not winning in the blue-white-red jersey, as he was wearing a rain jacket in his team’s colours. He was perfectly positioned by his team to secure the 17th victory of his career and his first with Ineos.
“A crazy pace, I was practically on the couch,” the Frenchman laughed.
Agence France-Presse
