Gifts, Gritos, And A Breakthrough Win: An Afternoon With The Tour de France’s New And Jubilant Mexican Fanbase

BARCELONA — “Pogito! Hermano! Ya eres Mexicano!” sang the gathered dozens. Over an hour after Isaac del Toro won Stage 2 of the Tour de France, an enthusiastic knot of 40-ish tricolor-clad fans was still patiently at the barriers. Some came from Mexico, some lived in Barcelona. Most had been there sweating in the unrelenting sun since early afternoon, though what’s that compared to the 36-year wait for a Mexican rider to win again at the sport’s biggest race, as Raul Alcala did in 1990?

While their hero was doing TV interviews, taking the obligatory doping tests, and regaling the for-some-reason seven-person French TV desk, the fans threw a party. They sang “Cielito Lindo” and “El Rey” and chanted for Alcala as he soaked in del Toro’s moment; when del Toro finally emerged, the crowd roared as the 22-year-old came over for some brief high-fives on his way back to his team bus as if he were floating. He was as exhausted as they were uplifted.

Del Toro’s win isn’t altogether surprising, though as Tadej Pogacar’s honorary Mexicanhood hints, del Toro’s biggest career triumph was not the most straightforward win. The Tour’s official press communique announced “Pogacar gifts Montjuïc win to del Toro,” which is both a bizarre bit of anti-marketing—don’t you want people to revel in a young superstar winning the first Tour stage of his career?—and a harsh way to characterize the day’s racing. As the peloton hit the bottom of the final climb, del Toro poured everything he had into the 50-second effort. Jonas Vingegaard couldn’t hold his wheel. Remco Evenepoel couldn’t either. Probably Pogacar could have, though del Toro blasted off so hard on his initial attack that he earned a huge gap, which Pogacar was happy to patrol. Nobody could touch del Toro, who crossed the line in joint celebration with Pogacar.