Del Toro wins Tour de France stage two as Pogacar closes in on Vingegaard

BARCELONA, July 5 : Isaac del Toro overcame a mechanical issue and a long wait to change his bike before launching a late attack to win the second stage of the Tour de France on Sunday, becoming only the second Mexican to claim a stage at the race after Raul Alcala more than three decades ago.

Del Toro's teammate and defending champion Tadej Pogacar finished second, cutting Jonas Vingegaard's overall lead to six seconds.

"It means really everything," said Del Toro after his second Grand Tour stage win. "As I said before, I'm very privileged. Plenty of confidence by the whole team. I cannot believe I just did it. It's just insane. You cannot believe how it feels now for me, especially for the country.

"We made a plan for Tadej, I did it but then the gap was bigger and I just went with the flow to the finish line."

Slovenian Pogacar crossed the finish line with Del Toro and lifted the 22-year-old in the air as the UAE Team Emirates-XRG colleagues celebrated the victory.

With about 60km left on the hilly ride from Tarragona to Barcelona, Del Toro suffered a mechanical problem. A miscommunication with his team on the radio left him sitting by the road, waiting for a replacement bike.

But Del Toro needed little more than 10km to make up for lost time when he got going again and played a central role in his team's strategy during the three laps up Cote de Chateau de Montjuic at the end of the stage.

POGACAR AND TEAMMATES DOMINATE THE FINISH

Brandon McNulty set the pace for Pogacar during the first climb as two-time winner Vingegaard remained behind his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Victor Campenaerts.

Pogacar and three teammates led the way during the second lap of the hill, but Vingegaard's teammate Matteo Jorgenson made a late push