SIENA, Italy (AP) — Isaac del Toro became the first Mexican cyclist to take the overall lead of the Giro d’Italia but the 21-year-old was beaten on the line by Wout van Aert in a tough and dusty ninth stage on Sunday that shook up the general classification.
Van Aert edged out Del Toro in a sprint at the end of the 181-kilometer (112-mile) route from Gubbio to Siena, that included a mini Strade Bianche on the white, gravel roads of Tuscany.
Giulio Ciccone was third, 58 seconds behind, on a disastrous day for pre-race favorite Primoz Roglic.
It was Van Aert’s first win of the season after the 30-year-old Belgian struggled with form following an injury-hit campaign last year. It was also Van Aert’s first stage win in his Giro debut. He has won nine stages at the Tour de France, and three at the Spanish Vuelta.
“It’s easy to say this victory means a lot to me, I almost cannot explain it,” Van Aert said.
“It had to be here I believe because this place is where my road career started back in 2018 and to win this stage after a long period without delivering, finally again, it feels so good.”
The stage exploded into life in the first two of the five gravel sectors, with the dust and grit kicked up by the cyclists — and the race cars — swirling all around.
Most of the six breakaway riders from the first half of the stage were caught on the first sector, with the rest swept up on the second, where Roglic was caught up in a crash.
All those involved were swiftly back up but there was further disaster for Roglic shortly afterward as he had a puncture and had to change bikes.
Up front, Del Toro and Van Aert attacked from a small group on the final sector, with about 15 kilometers remaining, and it appeared as if the young Mexican was heading for the biggest victory of his career before Van Aert came round him about 500 meters from the line.
Del Toro has an overall lead of 1 minute, 13 seconds over UAE Team Emirates XRG teammate Juan Ayuso, with Antonio Tiberi 17 seconds further back.
Roglic — who had been third overall — slipped to 10th, 2:25 behind Del Toro.
“We take it, we finish it and I have to see what to do next,” Roglic said. “We will see. I mean, we’ll see at the end what that means.”
Monday sees the race’s second rest day before a 28.6-kilometer individual time trial from Lucca to Pisa
The Giro ends in Rome on June 1.
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