Isaac del Toro darts to stage 2 victory at the Tour of Austria

Making a late burst for the line in St. Johann Alpendorf, Isaac del Toro won stage 2 of the Tour of Austria, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Felix Großschartner retaining the race lead with a fourth-place finish.

The young Mexican marks a winning return to racing, with the Tour of Austria proving his first racing appearance since his Giro d’Italia runner-up spot in May. With a fantastic turn of speed over the final 200m of stage 2, Del Toro charged past AJ August of Ineos Grenadiers, sealing his third victory of the season.

Earlier in the stage, UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates Florian Vermeersch and Julius Johansen had combined to keep a five-man breakaway in close quarters. Under their steam, the peloton approached the final 2.4km-long climb to the finish line at the head of the race. Averaging 7%, the Sankt Johann im Pongau climb would decide the day’s winner.

With Rafał Majka never far from the front, it was his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Alessandro Covi who made a strong attack some 800m from the line. The Italian immediately developed a gap over the bunch and as he rounded a left-hand bend into the final 300m, it looked as though Covi would take the day’s honours.

Unfortunately for Covi, AJ August exploded from the pack and bridged the gap between the bunch and the Italian, leaving the win up for grabs inside the final 100m. At this point, Del Toro rocketed out from behind and used his explosive finish to roar across the line in first place.

Großschartner’s fourth place was enough to see him retain the race lead, with Majka remaining second overall and Del Toro moving himself one place up to fourth. After his third victory of the season, Del Toro spoke of his happiness at making a winning return to racing in Austria.

Del Toro: “I feel quite good, honestly. To be back here with the team, with the guys, the atmosphere is super nice and I am still dreaming.

“We will try to keep the leader’s jersey, and why not try to make the gap bigger [between now and the end of the race]?”

Tour of Austria 2025 stage 2 results:

1. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3:04:59

2. AJ August (EF Education-EasyPost) s.t

3. Hector Álvarez (EF Education-EasyPost) s.t

4. Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t

5. Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t

Tour of Austria 2025 general classification after stage 2:

1. Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 6:51:25

2. Rafał Majka (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +9″

3. Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost) +12″

4. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +16″

Meanwhile, over at the Tour de France, UAE Team Emirates-XRG enjoyed a controlled day across Normandy, with Tim Wellens reclaiming his polka-dot jersey from teammate Tadej Pogačar.

Beginning the day in control of the general, points, and KOM classifications, Pogačar ceded all three on stage 6, allowing himself an evening off from podium duties ahead of stage 7’s uphill finish in Mûr-de-Bretagne. With the breakaway developing a sufficient gap over the peloton, Pogačar hands the Yellow Jersey over to Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), leaving the world champion just one second off the lead of the race.

As for Wellens, the Belgian national champion led the front of the peloton over the Côte de la Rançonnière, taking two points in the King of the Mountains classification and returning him to the polka-dot jersey come the end of the stage. It marks a job well done for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, who maintained a steady hand over proceedings on Thursday afternoon.

After the battle for the intermediate sprint, a lengthy battle to enter the day’s breakaway ensued, with Marc Soler, Nils Politt, Jhonatan Narváez and Pavel Sivakov all on duty to ensure that no dangerous riders clipped off the front. Once the Emirati squad was satisfied with the arrangement of the day’s breakaway, Pogačar and his teammates were able to take their foot off the gas until it came to the final couple of kilometres.

With Ben Healy of EF Education-EasyPost having won the stage, Visma-Lease a Bike tried to put pressure on Pogačar through the closing moments. However, Pogačar more than stood up to the task, leading the peloton over the finish line after a late burst of speed. Speaking to the media after the stage, the three-time Tour de France champion relayed his contentment with the race situation heading into stage 7.

Pogačar: “In the end, Visma went hard, so we just followed. At the start, the first two hours were super hard, super fast – incredibly fast – and we survived good. Then we decided whether we would go for the stage or not.

“We decided not to spend our bullets, and then we rode our pace. Nils did his job, so did Marc and the rest of the team. Visma came to the front, riding all out, on the final two kickers. Maybe they had information that Van der Poel was suffering and losing time in the front. [Maybe] Visma wanted to give me the Yellow Jersey today.

“But in the end, I think Mathieu has it for one second, so chapeau to him. Super ride from him today, and the breakaway did a really amazing job in the front, so all credit to the guys in the breakaway.

“I don’t mind having the Yellow Jersey but the goal was to spend as little [energy] as possible today. Tomorrow is another good finish for me, and we still need some legs for the second and third weeks. What we did today was really good from us.”

Tour de France 2025 stage 6 results:

1. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) 4:24:10

2. Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) +2:44

3. Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) +2:51

9. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +5:27

Tour de France 2025 general classification after stage 6:

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 21:52:34

2. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1″

3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) +43″

7. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1:59