Narváez wins as Movistar tear up the Giro script — and the maglia rosa changes hands again

Jhonatan Narváez has won stage four of the Giro d'Italia. The Ecuadorian gave a battered UAE Team Emirates-XRG the perfect antidote to a dreadful opening week, as Movistar spent the entire day working for puncheur Orluis Aular — who ultimately had to settle for second. Pink jersey holder Guillermo Thomas Silva had been dropped on the key climb, and so the maglia rosa passed to third-placed Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek.

Up to this point in the Giro, racing had been decided three times in a sprint. Paul Magnier had twice been the quickest man in the bunch finishes, while Guillermo Thomas Silva took a surprise win in a reduced group on stage two. The Uruguayan from XDS Astana had been wearing the pink jersey going into stage four — and the stage had not looked demanding enough to strip it from him.

But would it be hard enough to trouble the sprinters? It was pancake flat from start to finish, with one exception: the Cozzo Tunno. At 14.4 kilometres long and averaging 5.9%, the climb was anything but trivial. Its summit sat just over forty kilometres from the line. The race looked like it could go either way, with the final result likely to depend entirely on how events unfolded on the road.

Which meant a breakaway also had a realistic chance of staying clear. The fight for the day's escape was more animated than in previous stages. Six riders eventually got the nod: Niklas Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockets), Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), Johan Jacobs (Groupama-FDJ), Warren Barguil (Picnic-PostNL), Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta) and Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost).

It was also a windy day, and the threat of crosswinds splitting the peloton was ever-present. It made for a nervous opening phase, but the race stayed together. The six leaders steadily built their advantage to over two minutes — though they were never allowed much more than that, thanks to persistent work from Netcompany INEOS, XDS Astana and Decathlon CMA CGM at the head of the peloton.

After forty kilometres, came unwelcome news: Kaden Groves had abandoned. The Alpecin-Premier Tech sprinter had been caught in a heavy crash in stage one and had been struggling badly ever since. Stage four proved impossible to continue. A major blow. Meanwhile, the feared wind failed to materialise — a nothing day in the saddle before the Cozzo Tunno.

The breakaway therefore hit the foot of the long climb with a small lead over the peloton. That was when Movistar applied their punishing pace, and virtually every sprinter in the race was shelled out the back. Tobias Lund Andresen, Paul Magnier, Jonathan Milan, Dylan Groenewegen — all gone. Expected, of course — but the sight of pink jersey holder Thomas Silva losing contact was something altogether more surprising.

The pace on the climb was ferocious. Even the best-climbing sprinters — Corbin Strong among them — were unable to hold on. But the most unexpected rider in difficulty was Egan Bernal. The Colombian 2021 Giro champion, riding for Netcompany INEOS, drifted to the back and then fell off the pace entirely. A stage that had looked like a transitional day had turned into a bloodbath. By the summit, with 42 kilometres to go, fewer than forty riders remained at the front.

On the descent, Derek Gee-West — who had survived despite his crash injuries from stage two — was struck by a puncture and lost ground. The Canadian champion found a companion in Bernal as he fought his way back. It was not made easy for either man, but in the final twenty kilometres they made contact with the front group once more.

Movistar continued to drive the pace in service of Aular, who appeared comfortably the fastest finisher in the reduced group — especially as Ben Turner had been obliged to sacrifice himself to assist Bernal. But were there any attacks coming in the finale? First came the Red Bull bonus sprint, where time bonuses were up for grabs. Jonas Vingegaard contested it, but was beaten by Jan Christen, Giulio Pellizzari and Giulio Ciccone.

Then came the biggest subplot of all: the pink jersey. Christen, Ciccone, Bernal and Florian Stork (Tudor Pro Cycling) were all level on time and all virtually in pink. Movistar went back to the front and set a solid tempo — not flat out, but controlled. The stage was waiting for someone to attack, and that someone turned out to be Christen.

The white jersey wearer launched from deep in the group and immediately opened a gap on the twisting final kilometres. Enric Mas and Gee-West could not close it. Lidl-Trek — with Ciccone's interests in mind — did manage to bring it back in the final hundreds of metres. Aular then launched from a long way out, went too early and was caught. Narváez, perfectly timed, won with ease. Aular crossed in second, Ciccone in third — and the pink jersey was his.