Isaac del Toro needed only two stages of his first Tour de France to ride into Mexican sports history.
The 22-year-old from Baja California surged clear on the final uphill run, then crossed the finish line in Barcelona arm in arm with UAE Emirates-XRG teammate Tadej Pogacar to win Stage 2 of the three-week race.
The 168.5-kilometer stage was held entirely in Spain, starting in the port city of Tarragona, hugging the Mediterranean coast and then turning inland toward the climbs above Barcelona.
Pogacar, four times a Tour de France champion, eased up in the final meters, effectively gifting the victory to his young teammate in a gesture that left Del Toro visibly stunned.
Del Toro became the first Mexican in 36 years to win a Tour stage, the first since Monterrey native Raúl Alcalá in 1989 and 1990.
The news service EFE called the triumph “prestigious” and Del Toro said it was “incredible.”
“This means everything to me,” he said. “I’m privileged to be on this team, which has trusted me from the very beginning. This is the fruit of the entire team’s work.”
The Ensenada native is widely regarded as one of the world’s premier young stage racers and has risen into the top three of the UCI world rankings behind only Pogacar of Slovenia and Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark.
He arrived at the Tour with 2026 victories in the UAE Tour (a weeklong race in the United Arab Emirates), the Tirreno-Adriatico (a seven-stage race across central Italy) and Tour Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes (an eight-stage race in southeastern France).
Last year, he exploded onto the scene with 16 wins across tour stages and one-day races — a surge that vaulted him from No. 57 to No. 3 in the UCI world rankings.
Following Sunday’s Stage 2, Del Toro was in fourth place in a race that spans 21 stages and is scheduled to end July 26 in Paris.
Felicidades a Isaac del Toro por su triunfo en la segunda etapa del Tour de Francia 2026 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) July 5, 2026
In Monday’s Stage 3, Pogacar struck back, winning a mountainous route to take the yellow jersey as the race’s overall leader on a time tiebreak over his main rival, Vingegaard.
Del Toro finished 10th to hold his fourth-place overall standing. The stage ran from Granollers, Spain, to Les Angles, France, with del Toro finishing 51 seconds behind Pogacar.
No Mexican has ever won the Tour de France, with Alcalá’s ninth-place finish in 1987 ranking as the best finish by a Mexican rider.
Following his Stage 2 victory, Del Toro received a “felicidades” on social media from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
With reports from ESPN México, Excélsior, Associated Press and Récord
