Great performance of the Latin Americans in the first World Tour race of the year, the Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) and the Mexican Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) climbed to the podium of the Tour Down Under 2024. Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) emerged champion of the 24th edition of the Australian race.
Williams took the win on the final day, a 128.2-kilometer fraction contested Sunday between Unley and Mount Lofty. The Briton, who started the final stage as leader, successfully defended his orange jersey. On the final climb he fought a fierce battle with Jhonatan Narvaez and Isaac Del Toro, who finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively in both the stage and overall.
In the end, British Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) finished on the top of the podium of the Australian round, accompanied by Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) 2nd and Mexican Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) 3rd.
With this performance Jhonatan Narváez, 27 years old, reaffirms that he is in the best moment of his career. Last October 29 he won the gold medal in the road cycling competition at the Pan American Games Santiago 2023, in Chile.
“I am very happy with the results I am getting. I have worked hard for that and I hope to have a 2024 with many more successes. This race has been impressive and I have been able to show that I can compete at this level,” the Ecuadorian expressed to the media.
For his part, the 20-year-old Mexican cyclist commented: “I hope to continue learning and progressing. I’m happy with my performance here, I enjoyed it a lot. In addition to the third place overall, he won the applause of the jury and all the attendees, so he was also awarded the white jersey, recognition to the best young rider.
“It’s very good for me, everything is wonderful, being in a tour for the first time and doing this is more than comforting, we will have to think about other things, but at least this experience is a wonderful result,” said an excited Del Toro after the tour.
Isaac del Toro starts with the right foot this 2024 with UAE Team Emirates, which became his team after his triumph in the Tour de France U-23.