Del Toro, without a podium in San Sebastián

Juan Manuel Vázquez

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, August 3, 2025, p. a11

Cycling is a sport with an unparalleled logic. Rivals can support each other as if they were on the same team, and those who dominate a race don't always win.

That's what happened yesterday to Isaac del Toro, the Mexican who is steadily rising in the cycling elite. After holding the lead for almost the entire race in the San Sebastián Classic, on the final infamous climb just a few kilometers from the finish, his legs gave out, allowing him to stay in contention for victory, and he finished in a respectable fifth place in this one-day race.

Giulio Ciccone, an Italian vertical climber, took advantage of his improved ability to defend a position earned through experience and hard work to win the race in San Sebastian. For much of the 211 kilometers, he alternated with the Mexican from the UAE Team as if they were teammates, and they managed to gain up to a minute on the peloton.

On a one-day route, you attack from the start. The tactic is to be aggressive and try to position yourself at the top from the start. Del Toro performed this superbly in combination with his rival Ciccone. Both knew that only in this way could they build a scenario that would ultimately lead to a possible outcome in which they would embody two outlaws dueling.

But the plot offered an unexpected twist. The fearless duo of Del Toro and Ciccone faced the imposing Murgil-Tontorra, a wall designed to determine who is a mere mortal and who can approach, or at least touch, the category of heroism. Ten kilometers from the finish line in the city of San Sebastián, this mountain pass rises, with a slope of about 100 meters that could shatter your legs.

Ciccone set off with the ease of someone who knows how to dance on the pedals with a view to the precipice. Del Toro, also adept at climbing, lost steam and began to fall behind. Shortly before reaching the flat, eight kilometers from the finish, he fell out of the position he had held alongside the Italian. Then Swiss Jan Christen came out in pursuit, a kamikaze sent by the UAE Team to defeat Ciccone and help the Mexican regain his position.

Christen nervously looked around to see if Del Toro was approaching, but he couldn't catch them. Ciccone cruised across the finish line with a nine-second lead over the Swiss, with Belgian Maxim van Gils finishing third, 19 seconds behind the winner. Del Toro finished fifth, but put in a thrilling race.