SAINT JOHANN IM PONGAU, Austria, (Pakistan Point News - 11th Jul, 2025) Mexico's newest superstar makes a winning return to racing in Austria, as Tadej Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG enjoy controlled day at the Tour de France.
Making a late burst for the line in St. Johann Alpendorf, Isaac del Toro won stage 2 of the Tour of Austria, with the 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 percent, 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.
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.
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 the 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.
