Mexican cyclist Isaac del Toro claimed victory on the second stage of the Tour de France on Sunday, triumphing atop the Montjuïc hill in Barcelona in a dramatic uphill sprint finish — and in doing so became only the second Mexican rider ever to win a Tour de France stage, following in the footsteps of Raúl Alcalá.
The stage, which covered 168 kilometres from Tarragona — a city on the Catalan coast south of Barcelona — to Barcelona itself, concluded with three local circuits through the Catalan capital, each passing over the Côte de Château de Montjuïc, a punishing 1.6-kilometre climb averaging 9.3% gradient with a maximum of 13%, leading up to the city's Olympic stadium. Del Toro's victory was made all the more impressive by a mechanical problem earlier in the race that forced him to wait for a bike change, temporarily disrupting his rhythm.
The UAE Team Emirates squad of defending champion Tadej Pogacar drove a relentless pace in the final 25 kilometres, thinning the peloton dramatically on each ascent of Montjuïc until only around ten explosive climbers remained to contest the stage win. In the closing metres, del Toro accelerated hard, with Pogacar — who had the pace to challenge — visibly easing up to gift the stage to his 22-year-old teammate. The Slovenian star lifted del Toro into the air in celebration at the finish line. Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel of Belgium took third, just ahead of Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark.
In the general classification, Vingegaard retains the yellow jersey, but Pogacar used six bonus seconds at the finish to close the gap — now just six seconds — between himself and the race leader. Evenepoel sits third at 15 seconds, while teenage French climber Paul Seixas, who finished in a group nine riders three seconds back, is sixth overall at 42 seconds.
The race's opening days in Spain mark a significant moment for cycling's biggest event. With Monday's third stage — nearly 200 kilometres from Granollers to Les Angles, finishing uphill on French soil — offering several categorised climbs, the general classification contenders are expected to once again battle at the front, keeping the overall race tightly contested from the very first week.