Del Toro's Tour de l'Avenir win shows that it's possible
The Mexican revelation's surprise win shows that with the right opportunities, talent and work-ethic, riders from cycling's smaller nations can be champions
Isaac del Toro’s win at the Tour de l’Avenir was an historic one. To me, it showed that no matter where you’re from, if you have the talent and the opportunities, you can make it in cycling.
In the past 59 years, the winner of the Tour de l’Avenir has always been from a nation with the resources and systems to produce champions. Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Russia, Colombia, USA, Germany, Denmark, Slovenia and Norway - before this weekend those were the nations who had won a l’Avenir. Now add Mexico, a nation that doesn’t even have a recognised national federation and hasn’t had a successful cyclist this century.
Del Toro is part of the Mexican-run, San Marino registered, A.R.Monex team which has given him opportunities to race in Europe since 2021, his second year as a junior.
If you’re from a small nation, working with a small budget, trying to make it as a professional, Isaac del Toro’s victory should give you hope.
The difference in resource was even evident during the race. Mexico lost a stack of time during the TTT. Then, even though del Toro was the strongest rider, he lost 46 seconds on the mountain TT to Matthew Riccitello. Arguably, the time-trial disciplines are where you see the most difference in budgets. It was also clear that del Toro loves the altitude. Whenever the air got thin, del Toro looked stronger.
He’s a huge prospect, and still only 19. The rumours are he’s off to UAE but Jumbo are also interested. I think Movistar should spend their Carlos Rodriguez money to get him.
A shout out also has to be made to del Toro’s team-mate Jose Ramon Muniz who finished ninth on the extremely tough stage 6 and rode well in support all week. It was only Muniz’s second race in Europe after the under-23 TT Worlds.
Other small nations show glimpses of talent
The early stages leaned more towards the quicker riders and it was clear that Israel’s fast boys were among the best, despite some issues with their lead-out.
Rotem Tene was slated to be on positioning duties for Tour of Malopolska winner Oded Kogut in stages 1 and 2, but both times finished ahead of his team-mate. Tene finished in sixth on stage 1 and third on stage two, with Kogut in twelfth and fourth. It was a bright debut Tour de l’Avenir for the team.
The UCI World Cycling Centre team also preferred the early flatter stages. Hamza Amari sprinted very well on stage 2, finishing 14th in a busy, hectic finish. His first year in Europe has been a steady success. He’s ready to kick on for more now.
Amari’s team-mate Travis Stedman impressed on the lumpy parcours of stage 4, finishing twelfth. Stedman seemed to be climbing better than ever for a fast man, suggesting that he may become one for the tougher days.
Japan had one stand-out rider, Yuhi Todome. Todome is a rider I really like, and he’s improving well this season. The EF Education-Nippo Devo man was consistently strong throughout the week, which helped him to a solid 24th overall. His best result came on the mountain time-trial on stage 7a where he finished 13th.
The Inaugural Women’s Race of the Future
The Women’s Tour de l’Avenir started on Monday. It’s a vital race for the development of women’s cycling. I wrote a piece on it for Cycling News a few days ago.
Having had a more diverse men’s race, I was a bit disappointed looking at the women’s start-list. It’s good to see Mexico, Japan and Ecuador at the race - although the South American team didn’t start.
Mexico and Japan both feature talented young riders like Jacqueline Tamez Escamilla and Tsuyaka Uchino (third at the Glasgow Worlds points race). These riders will benefit hugely from the experience.
My disappointment really sprouts from the UCI World Cycling Centre team, which only contains riders from their team which they race with all year round. These are riders from Switzerland, Poland, Ukraine, Estonia and Belarus.
The team is one rider short. They could have created another space by placing Jasmin Liechtl in the Switzerland team, who also a rider down. This could have created a space for European-based riders like Nesrine Houili and Diane Ingabire of CANYON//SRAM Generation. It feels a bit like a lost opportunity.
Transfer news
Astana Qazaqstan have announced the signing of 23-year-old Eritrean Henok Mulubrhan on a two-year-deal.
Mulubrhan is the winner of two stage races this year - the Tour du Rwanda and Tour of Qinghai Lake - and finished his first grand tour at the Giro d’Italia this year for Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè.
Mulubrhan said in a team statement: ““I am so happy to join Astana Qazaqstan Team. It was my big dream to make this huge step into the WorldTour and now this dream comes true. I spent two years with my present team, and I can say I had a good time here, so I am grateful for this. But now I feel like it is time to move on ahead. I am really motivated to come to Astana and to show my best pursuing some nice results both for me personal and for the team.”
Other News
In Turkey the GP Kaiseria was won by Ukraine’s Antoli Budiak. Anton Kuzmin (Kaz) and Halil Dogan (Tur) were on the podium
The Tour of Yigido also in Turkey was won by British rider Max Stedman. There was another impressive ride from Stedman’s Beykoz Belediyesi Spor Kulübü team-mate Petros Mengis (Eri) who finished in 7th.
In Iran Kazakhstan’s Anton Kuzmin won the mountainous Tour of Kandovan. The Tour of Iran followed immediately and is currently being led by Germany’s Lucas Carstensen. Some of the best Asia Tour climbers are in Iran to take on the tough second-half of the race.
The domestic scene in China continues to roll on. Colombia’ Carlos Luis Chia won the Horqin Grass Capital of China race. Ukraine’s Vitaliy Novakovskyi was second and China’s Xiaoping Xu third.
In Costa Rica, the Vuelta del Porvenir was won by 20-year-old Luis Aguilar. Luis Daniel Oses and Kevin Granados were second and third respectively.
An important update to the biggest farce in cycling this year. In May, Uzbekistan allegedly fabricated their own national championships. Now, they’ve held them for real, with Dmitry Bocharov and Yanina Kuskova the winners. This time, there is photographic proof.
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