Isaac del Toro made a daring late move in the final kilometre to take the second stage of the 2026 Tour de France on an uphill finish in Barcelona.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider chased down late-attacker Matthias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), cornering at high speed with 500 metres to go and unleashing his acceleration.
His team-mate Tadej Pogačar attacked from behind and had the beating of yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), but appeared to all his young colleague to take an historic victory in a UAE Team Emirates-XRG 1-2. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) topped an impressive opening weekend by finishing third.
Vingegaard remains in the yellow jersey of race leader, but Pogačar has closed the gap from twelve to six seconds, moving into second overall. Evenepoel now sits third, 15 seconds down.
Del Toro claimed his first Tour de France stage win on his debut, and what’s more, took Mexico’s first win at the race in 36 years, since Raúl Alcala claimed stage 7 in 1990.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG controlled the finale as the riders took on the famous Côte du Château de Montjuïc three times. American Brandon McNulty took charge of the race, discouraging any rivals from making an early attack.
On the final time up the climb Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) lit up the race with a late move, which was countered first by Richard Carapaz (EF Education First-EasyPost) and then Skjelmose, who moved on the descent into the final rise to the line.
Del Toro pulled on the front of the bunch in pursuit of the Dane before launching his own move. Vingegaard chased the Mexican champion, but looked more interested in Pogačar who swerved to the opposite side of the road, allowing Del Toro to create a gap and make more history for Mexico.
More to follow…
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