Wout van Aert and Isaac del Toro spent a long time riding together on stage 9 of the 2025 Giro d’Italia, with the 30-year-old Belgian eventually prevailing over his younger rival to take the stage win.
Van Aert was left incredibly impressed by Del Toro though, and with the Mexican in the Maglia Rosa as the Grand Tour heads back into the mountains on stage 11, Van Aert is excited to see what Del Toro can do.
Oh, he really amazed me with his ride, to be honest,” Van Aert recalled of the ‘mini Strade Bianche’ stage 9, in his pre-stage 11 interview with Cycling Pro Net. “He was super strong and really going for it, to take as much advantage as possible, I think, for the GC. I was just happy I could hang on — that was basically everything I had in my legs.”
After taking the Maglia Rosa with that performance, Del Toro did enough to retain the race lead in the stage 10 time trial and now holds 25 seconds over his own UAE Team Emirates – XRG teammate Juan Ayuso in the GC ahead of stage 11. “Yeah, he seems like he’s in a good place,” Van Aert notes. “Yesterday he defended the jersey quite well, so it’ll be interesting.”
As for his own hopes for the day, Van Aert is a little more reserved. “It was really cool to win that stage — obviously to win again. But also, it was nice that with the rest, I had an extra few moments to think back on it and enjoy it. Unfortunately, yesterday was back to business and now we’re racing again,” he assesses. “Overall, the legs were there in that stage. I think I’m not in the best shape ever, but at least I’m healthy and fit again. If I can target a few more days and do it smart, then hopefully we can be more successful still in this Giro.”
