Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) said he was 'baffled' by the tactics adopted by Giro d'Italia leader Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on Saturday's final mountain stage.

Stage 20 saw Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) fly to overall victory after breaking away from podium contenders Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Del Toro on the Colle delle Finestre climb.

Yates' attack initially saw Del Toro rely on the pursuit of Carapaz and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) to try to keep the Briton at a safe distance. But as the Mexican's 1:21 lead in the overall standings evaporated amid disagreements among the chasers, Yates took the pink jersey by more than three minutes.

In his podcast 'Watts Occurring' with teammate Laurens de Plus, Thomas - who has already been on the Giro podium in both 2024 and 2023 - said he was 'angry, happy, confused - everything watching that stage'.

'Don't get me wrong, second place for Del Toro in his first Grand Tour at 21 is a great achievement,' Thomas said. 'But the way he rode the whole race, it was like something changed overnight.'

'He followed Carapaz well, but when Yates went away he didn't shoot. Carapaz was shooting and we were all wondering: why is Carapaz shooting? Let Del Toro shoot, he's the one in pink. It's his race to lose and he has to chase.'

Thomas pointed out that Del Toro had the legs to follow Carapaz's attacks, making his wait-and-see tactic even more incomprehensible. 'The tackle for me was really disconcerting,' concluded the Welshman.