Thread by @PelotonMag

For the first time ever, one of the outsiders of the Tour de l'Avenir, which will start on Sunday, is from Mexico: Isaac Del Toro Romero 🇲🇽 (20 years old).
Here is some information about his background 👇

Mexican cycling is in a very special situation, as there is currently no Mexican cycling federation recognized by the UCI. Since 2021, the FMC - which was heavily criticized for years - is suspended by the UCI for "serious infringements regarding governance & electoral process".

Isaac Del Toro is by far the best rider of AR Monex, a U23 Mexican team based in San Marino. The team also includes Carlos Afonso Garcia (19yo sprinter).
AR Monex is a structure founded in 2014 by the Rodriguez brothers 🇲🇽, aiming to develop young Mexican cyclists in Europe.

Initially, they focused on mountain biking (they've had MTB teams based in 🇨🇿 and 🇦🇩) but they slowly switched to Road, while keeping their riders doing multiple disciplines. AR Monex got bigger in 2021, with men Conti + Junior teams, and taking over (for 1 year) Astana Women.

Since 2020, AR Monex had conflicts with their national fed., which made them lose opportunities. According to the Rodriguez brothers, the FMC tried to prevent them from racing, as they were angry that the team had received government subventions not going through the federation.

So, the team chose to move its permanent base from Mexico to San Marino 🇸🇲🇮🇹. As the FMC was about to be suspended, the UCI and San Marino federation allowed AR Monex Continental Team to be registered in San Marino, despite having a majority of riders (all but one) from Mexico.

Since 2021, the young men 🇲🇽 riders of AR Monex have raced as Junior & U23 in cyclocross, mountain bike and road. They are spending the season in the team house and doing online schooling. They have former Latvian/Soviet rider (living in Italy) Piotr Ugrumov as one of their DS.

The last Mexican cyclist who had made it to the World Tour was Luis Villalobos, who had signed a 2.5 years deal with EF Education First as of August 2019. But he then got suspended for 4 years because of a positive doping test taken a few months before joining EF.

Luis Villalobos wasn't the first rider from Mexico to get caught for doping. Several (former) riders and coaches spoke about dopers doctors/coaches in Mexico, the lack of controls in local races, as well as the stigma clean Mexican cyclists are victims of because of the cheaters.

Former Israel Cycling Academy rider, Luis Lemus is one of those who had spoken on social media about Luis Villalobos and when he believed Luis had taken the bad path, stopping working with a reliable coach.

Asked about Isaac del Toro's entourage in Mexico, Luis Lemus answered that he trusts Isaac's coach, Freddy Cruz, who has a very good reputation in Mexico.

AR Monex structure hasn't had any problems so far, and has a good image regarding values and ethics.

https://twitter.com/LuisE_Lemus/status/1680647293458841602?s=20

Isaac Del Toro comes from Ensenada, North-West Mexico. He is a climber, good descender, and can also do well in small group sprints. He started cycling at the age of 12, and took it seriously from 15. In early 2020, before Covid, he shortly came to Andorra for MTB with AR Monex.

He arrived in San Marino with AR Monex in February 2021, starting with MTB and road races in Italy. In the second part of the year, he got good results in road Italian Junior races (national and UCI 1.1 ones) and did the MTB (39th), TT (58th) and Road (79th) Junior World Champs.

When the winter came, AR Monex created a cyclocross team, so that its young riders could gain useful experience. Among other races, Isaac they did 2 UCI World Cups (Tábor and Koksijde). In January 2022, Isaac was 20th in the CX U23 World Champs.

In 2022, his first U23 season, Isaac did a few MTB World Cups, but mostly focused on Road. He got regular okay results in Italian U23 races, Peace Race, Sibiu Tour... In July, he was 22nd of super hard Giro Valle d'Aosta, but it ended his season because he then had a big crash.

So far in the 2023 season, Isaac Del Toro showed a very good progression, especially in high-level mountain races. He started with multiple Top10s in Italian U23 races, then he was 10th overall of U23 Peace Race in Czech Republic, after an 11th place in the queen stage.

In July, he did Sibiu Cycling Tour (2.1, Romania) against a good startlist including Bora, Lotto, UnoX, Q36.5... He was 11th and 8th on the mountain finishes and 15th of the 3km long time trial, getting 10th place in the final general classification.

A few days after Sibiu, Isaac confirmed his climbing skills at Giro della Valle d'Aosta, the hardest mountain stage race in the U23 calendar. He lost all his teammates (DNF and OTL) after only two stages, but he managed to get to the final podium.

Ahead of him on the podium were Darren Rafferty 🇮🇪 who won GC thanks to a long breakaway on stage 4, and Alexy Faure-Prost 🇨🇵 whom Isaac had lost 1'08" to on stage 2 because of a bad day; but the Mexican was the top finisher from leader's group on the last 3 days.

All the best U23 climbers were not doing Aosta, but this was still a great performance.

As the Mexican cycling federation is suspended by the UCI, the Mexican Olympic Committee can allow structures to represent Mexican national selection in races such as Tour de l'Avenir.

That's why AR Monex U23 Team will race under the colours of Mexico during the Tour de l'Avenir. The team will also logistically support the Mexican women who will race the 1st edition of Tour de l'Avenir Femmes.

Together with his teammates, Isaac spent the last weeks in France and reconed all the mountain stages of the 2023 Tour de l'Avenir. As always, the level will be super high at l'Avenir, but on paper, Isaac probably is among the 15 best climbers from the startlist.

However, Tour de l'Avenir isn't only about climbing, many GC riders are out before the mountain comes.

No matter his results next week, what he has already shown makes us believe that Isaac Del Toro should probably join a WorldTeam, a ProTeam, or a WT Development Team next year.

@LPDouces This is the one fully about Isaac: bici.pro/news/giovani/d…

To read more about Mex cycling, AR Monex and Isaac Del Toro:
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👉 velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-cult…
cyclingnews.com/features/polit…
cyclingnews.com/news/yareli-sa…
velo.outsideonline.com/2021/12/breaki…
bici.pro/news/giovani/u…
arprocycling.com
firstcycling.com/rider.php?r=15…
bici.pro/news/giovani/d…

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You can find stories (in French) about WCC Team riders in the Tour de l'Avenir in our big article about African cyclists which was published early 2023:
Find out their profiles using Ctrl+Fprodige-mag.wixsite.com/peloton-mag/cy…

@LPDouces

https://twitter.com/PelotonMag/status/1692645609277145182?t=9AOlkVQLm199ZfFp-jChUg&s=19