Pogacar Wins Tour Stage 3 and Takes Yellow Jersey by 2 Seconds

Q: Is Isaac del Toro, Pogacar's key teammate, the Tour's next champion in waiting?

Yes. Isaac del Toro looks like a genuine Tour de France champion in waiting, even if his immediate job is to help Tadej Pogacar. The evidence is unusually strong for a 22-year-old. Del Toro won the 2023 Tour de l’Avenir in dominant fashion, then backed that up with elite WorldTour results: second overall at the 2025 Giro d’Italia after wearing pink, and major 2026 stage-race wins at the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico. At this Tour, he has already won Stage 2 and then played a decisive role in Pogacar’s Stage 3 victory, delivering the support that set up the yellow-jersey move. His rider profile fits a future Tour winner. He climbs well, accelerates sharply, races aggressively but intelligently, and appears comfortable in high-pressure moments. Those are the traits of a general classification leader, not just a domestique. Pogacar’s public praise for his “more than 100%” effort also underlines how highly UAE rates him. The main caveat is timing, not talent. As long as Pogacar remains at his peak and is chasing more Tours, Del Toro is likely to work in support or be deployed as a secondary option rather than full team leader at the Tour. UAE’s depth can delay his own leadership chances, even while accelerating his development. So the answer is that Del Toro is not merely a promising helper; he is one of the clearest future Tour contenders in the peloton. Whether he becomes the next champion soon depends less on ability than on when he gets undisputed leadership.

3 articles · Updated · ESPN · Jul 6

Les Angles delivered the Tour's first mountain test, and Tadej Pogacar answered by sprinting clear over the final 200 meters for his 22nd career Tour stage win.
A 10-second bonus for the Stage 3 victory, added to his runner-up finish on Stage 2, put Pogacar into yellow even though he and Jonas Vingegaard were level on overall time.
Vingegaard finished second and took a six-second bonus, while Richard Carapaz and Paul Seixas crossed two seconds behind Pogacar at the summit finish in the French Pyrenees.
UAE Emirates-XRG controlled the 196-kilometer stage from Granollers, reeling in last escapee Alex Baudin with about 10 kilometers left before Isaac del Toro helped set up the final climb.
The win was Pogacar's 14th of 2026 and strengthened the favorite's bid for a record-equaling fifth Tour title in a race already disrupted near Stage 3 by a nearby wildfire.