Del Toro made it four wins in four days for UAE Team Emirates-XRG in Austria, with the Mexican moving into the race lead ahead of the final stage
Continuing its domination of the 2025 Tour of Austria, UAE Team Emirates-XRG made it four wins from four stages on Saturday afternoon, with Isaac del Toro claiming his third win on the bounce to seal the honours on stage 4.
In a close repeat of his previous-day performance, Del Toro produced an insurmountable show of force in the final few hundred metres to leave the second-placed Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost) in his wake. With his domineering display on the Queen stage, the Mexican made his way into the lead of the race, with teammate Felix Großschartner ceding the jersey he had held since his stage 1 victory.
Despite Großschartner suffering an off-day, Del Toro’s teammates rallied around the Mexican in a bid to seal a fourth victory on the spin. After the earlier work of Filippo Baroncini, Florian Vermeersch and Julius Johansen, it was Rafał Majka who perhaps produced the performance of the day over the final two climbs.
On the penultimate climb, the recently crowned Polish national champion followed the attacks of Asbjørn Hellemose (Jayco AlUla), Rui Costa and Esteban Chaves (both EF Education-EasyPost). With the move quickly gaining significant time over the peloton, Majka could bide his time and wait for Del Toro’s eventual attack from behind. That moment came with a little under 11km to ride on stage 4.
With Majka and Del Toro reunited at the front of the race, the former went to work at whittling down the group. One by one, riders were shelled out the back, as Majka set an imposing pace at the head of the race. By the final 3km, only Ryan and Del Toro remained in the wheel of the Polishman.
Majka continued his aggression and deterred any attacks from Ryan, teeing up Del Toro’s stage-winning acceleration with 250m to ride. The Mexican had too much in the locker for the EF Education-EasyPost rider, who has ridden consistently all week to sit second overall heading into the final stage.
As for the Emirati squad, Del Toro now leads the race by 29 seconds, with Majka sitting third overall, just 18 seconds behind Ryan. Only a 144km test to and from Feldkirch on Sunday remains, where the final victory will be decided at this year’s Tour of Austria.
Del Toro: “Felix did not have the best feeling in the final of the second-to-last climb, so we tried to be with him a little bit. But in the end, the climb just kept getting steeper and we managed to have more control over the race, and put more pressure on the other teams by making it even harder. We made them more tired.
“It’s a shame because I really wanted to see Felix do it, but everybody can have a bad day. At the end, we can make it with the team and I am proud of the win.
“It’s nice to be in this position, and for sure we will try to enjoy this.”
Tour of Austria 2025 stage 4 results:
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3:27:20
- Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost) +4″
- Rafał Majka (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +6″
Tour of Austria 2025 general classification after stage 4:
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 13:58:08
- Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost) +29″
- Rafał Majka (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +47″
- Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +3:18
