Finishing safely within a reduced peloton on the fifth and final stage, Isaac del Toro sealed overall victory at the Tour of Austria. The young Mexican makes the five-day stage race the second general classification win of his fledgling career, with Del Toro's victory built upon three successive stage victories between Thursday and Saturday.

 

Facing no difficulties on Sunday afternoon, the 21-year-old secured the red jersey to make it 62 victories to date for UAE Team Emirates-XRG in the 2025 campaign. As Bob Jungels won the stage from the breakaway for Ineos Grenadiers, Del Toro's teammate Florian Vermeersch sprinted to third place across the line, marking an end to a fantastic week for the Emirati squad.

 

Felix Großschartner kicked off the race in style for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, making a solo attack to win stage 1, before Del Toro showed imperious form to win stages 2, 3 and 4. Along the way, teammate Rafał Majka rode with consistency to land himself third overall come the end of the race in Feldkirch.

 

Showing his own strength on home roads, Großschartner ably supported Del Toro and finished the race in 10th position on general classification. With the overall victory included, UAE Team Emirates-XRG conclude five days of racing in Austria with five wins, retaining the title that the Emirati outfit also won in 2024.

 

Taking control of the peloton from start to finish, Del Toro was thankful to his teammates after the finish, with Filippo Baroncini, Alessandro Covi, and Julius Johansen all making important contributions throughout the week.

 

Del Toro: 'I am pretty happy and excited because the team did a crazy good job during the whole week. It was crazy, and I cannot be more happy to have this crowd around me [at the finish] and all the support of the team.

 

'I think the whole team was really good today. Florian did third, and all the other stages went crazy for us. We can be proud of what we did this week, and super happy.'

 

Over at the Tour de France, UAE Team Emirates-XRG sadly lost the services of João Almeida on stage 9. The Portuguese climber had bravely tried to battle on through the injuries he suffered in a stage 7 crash, but his Tour de France journey came to an end on Sunday afternoon. We wish him a speedy recovery.