Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took the victory in Milano-Torino, the oldest Classic on the calendar, outpowering Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) in a three-up sprint on Wednesday.
Johannessen led out the finale, attacking first in the final kilometre, but Tulett quickly reeled him back in. Del Toro waited patiently in the Brit's wheel, before launching away in the final 200 metres to celebrate with a bow at the line.
With the return of the iconic climb to the Basilica de Superga deciding the day, the top riders battled it out over two reps of the stinging ascent, with Del Toro benefiting from great work done by Adam Yates and the rest of UAE's squad throughout the final 25km.
This was the 21-year-old Mexican's first victory in 2025, after bursting onto the scene during his neo-pro season last year. It also continues a stunning start to the campaign for UAE, with this victory their 19th already.
"I don't know if I deserve it, I am super happy about it. The team works really a lot for this and I realised my first victory this year and I really enjoyed this race," said Del Toro after his victory.
"I cannot believe I made it. In the end, I played my cards well and it's so special. I put a lot of pressure on myself but we know as a team how we want to play. Yates and the whole team put confidence in me and I just tried to finish the work.
"I tried to play as much as I could but not spend too much energy in the end, and I think I played it well for the sprint and for the last few attacks. We deserve it as a team."
How it unfolded
Blue skies welcomed the 130 starters to Rho, just outside Milan, for the start of the oldest Classic on the cycling calendar, Milano-Torino, with 174km and a return of the iconic Superga finish awaiting them.
The fight for the day's breakaway began immediately from the flag drop, and after 20km, five riders had successfully got away with a gap: Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty), Nariyuki Masuda (JCL Team UKYO), Kristian Sbaragli, Davide Baldaccini (Solution Tech - Vini Fantini) and Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta).
With little in the way of elevation gain on offer in the opening 150 kilometres of racing from Lombardy into Piedmont, UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Tudor positioned themselves to control things on the front, with pre-race favourites Adam Yates and Marc Hirschi among their ranks.
While the status quo was maintained, both Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) and Jorge Gutiérrez (Equipo Kern Pharma) crashed in the opening 60km and were forced to abandon the race.
With the first of two ascents up to Superga approaching 40km from the finish, the gap to the break was down to a manageable 1:40 and EF Education-EasyPost had also begun contributing to the effort alongside the Swiss and Emirati teams for their leader Richard Carapaz.
The peloton was in full flow with teams almost completing sprint lead-outs to ensure their leaders were positioned for the 4.2km climb with an average gradient of 9.2%.
Bais and Rutsch proved to be the strongest out of the break but their day looked like it might soon be over, with UAE, Uno-X and EF all moving to the front at the steep foot of the Superga and reducing the lead to under 30 seconds.
With UAE fully in control for Yates, and Del Toro who looked stronger, Rutsch peeled away from Bais to be the last man standing on the road. The pace was upped behind causing defending champion Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana) to lose contact off the back.
Around 25 riders crested the Superga still in the front group, with just one survivor from the day's early break left to catch. Rutsch maintained and even extended his lead while navigating speed bumps and descending off of the Superga preparing for a second rep up to the Basilica.
Rutsch hit the foot of the climb still in the lead but with the group of favourites bearing down on him. Soon, Alessandro Covi had reeled him back in for UAE and the finale had started.
Uno-X were one of several teams who tried to have a dig on the climb, with Anders Halland Johannessen working for his brother Tobias. However, Jefferson Alexander Cepeda (EF) closed him down before Yates moved to the front ahead of the steepest section with 3km to go and got things under control for UAE.
Del Toro waited patiently as his experienced teammate kept the tempo up and began to drop riders, with Brit Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) sitting in the wheel of his compatriot.
The Mexican tried to explode away with 1300 remaining and quickly a selection was made, with only Tulett and Tobias Johannessen able to follow. They would stay together to play out the victory in the final kilometre, with the Norwegian blinking first and attacking, only for Tulett to reel him in and Del Toro to blast away for the win.
Yates came home for fourth to round out a very successful day for UAE Team Emirates atop an iconic finish in northern Italy. However, they'll mainly be hoping they can carry this success across to Milan-San Remo on Saturday, where Tadej Pogačar will look for victory at the first Monument of 2025.
Results
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