Verona bags sixth win for Lidl as Giro hits mountains

Asiago, Italy: Spain´s Carlos Verona of Lidl-Trek won stage 15 of the Giro d´Italia on Sunday while Team UAE´s Isaac Del Toro remains in the overall lead after a mountainous 219km stage from Fiume Veneto to Asiago.

Verona´s solo triumph was the 32-year-old´s first-ever win on a grand tour and Lidl-Trek´s sixth stage win on the 2025 Giro -- Mads Pedersen, with four, and Dan Hoole taking the other five.

The victory came, however, on a day that started badly for Lidl-Trek with the retirement of team leader Giulio Ciccone who pulled out injured after a difficult day in the saddle on Saturday.

Verona peeled away on the final climb and held a slender advantage over the peloton all the way to the line. The 21-year-old Del Toro did enough to hold on to the lead, the Mexican remaining 1min 20sec ahead of Simon Yates with Spaniard Juan Ayuso third, six seconds further adrift -- small change given the mountains ahead.

“The whole country is behind me. It´s incredible, like a dream,” said Del Toro, who took the lead a week ago, and is now being followed by an increasing number of Mexicans arriving in Italy to support him.

Egan Bernal´s Ineos team were a chief protagonist during an eventful stage, with attacks on both big climbs. “We have nothing to lose on this Giro, and everything to ride for,” Bernal said. Second-placed Yates of Visma kept his powder dry the first time Bernal accelerated on the Monte Grappa 21km climb but Del Toro skipped after him with ease.