UAE continue miraculous Giro turnaround with another stage

Jhonatan Narváez has claimed his second stage win of this Giro d'Italia. The Ecuadorian from UAE Team Emirates-XRG beat Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) in the demanding finale, after a ferocious fight for the day's escape group. The general classification contenders did not contest it, finishing together with Jai Hindley and Jonas Vingegaard taking the sprint between them.

On paper, this was a stage that fell squarely between two stools: too easy for the climbers, too hard for the sprinters. In those circumstances, you find yourself looking at the familiar scenario of the stage hunters taking their chance. And after the time gaps revealed on Blockhaus on Friday, there were now considerably more potential attackers with something to prove — which meant a frantic opening phase was virtually inevitable.

And so it proved. Roughly half the peloton threw themselves into the fray. Alongside the expected names — numerous riders from Bardiani CSF 7 Saber and Polti VisitMalta — some bigger names also appeared. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), riding in his home region, made several attempts, and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) got involved too. Points jersey holder Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) was not prepared to let that happen without a fight.

After a while it was Filippo Ganna (Netcompany INEOS) and Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana) who opened a gap — but the battle behind them raged on. The result was that over 50 kilometres were covered in the opening hour. In the chaos, there was also an unfortunate crash: Fabio Christen (Pinarello-Q36.5) came down hard after a moment of inattention and reached immediately for his collarbone — race over.

Jake Stewart (NSN) was also forced to retire shortly afterwards with knee problems. Ganna and Bettiol were brought back — the racing was simply too fierce. It took a long, long time before anyone managed to ride clear for good: the UAE duo of Mikkel Bjerg and Jhonatan Narváez moved forward alongside Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), but a large chasing group remained not far behind.

Wout Poels and Niklas Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockets) were in the chase, along with Frank van den Broek (Picnic-PostNL), Corbin Strong, Alessandro Pinarello (both NSN) and Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). The peloton, however, was not about to sit still — because Movistar had missed the move. They were made to pay for it by taking on the pacemaking duties.

This created another chaotic phase, with riders scattered everywhere. Even pink jersey holder Afonso Eulalio, Jonas Vingegaard and Ciccone threw themselves into the mix. When the dust settled, the picture was clear: the peloton was now willing to let the leaders go. The three out front were pursued by a group of thirty, including Poels and company — as well as notable names like Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) and Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

But a group that large is asking for trouble. There was not a shred of genuine cooperation, meaning they never came close to Narváez, Bjerg and Leknessund — who were collaborating well. Javier Romo (Movistar) tried to close the gap alone, but it was a hopeless cause. Had the stage already been decided?

Bahrain kept a watching brief to ensure Scaroni — eleventh in the GC — would not take the pink jersey. Romo did not gain a single metre, and in fact only fell further behind the three leaders as they hit the final ten kilometres. UAE had the numerical advantage and a top favourite in Narváez — but would they gift the stage to Bjerg?

The answer was no. After an acceleration from the Dane, Narváez powered past him on the penultimate climb. The tenacious Leknessund was able to re-attach impressively. Would it come to a sprint after all? The answer came shortly afterwards: the pace Narváez was setting was too much for the Norwegian. The Ecuadorian rode on to his second stage win of this Giro d'Italia.

Leknessund is not the type to give up easily, though. He began the final climb fifteen seconds adrift. He dug in and gave absolutely everything — on the steepest sections he was within fifty metres of Narváez, but still lost ground. The GC contenders arrived on those steep ramps too, but had no appetite for a battle.

Narváez knew that twenty seconds with a kilometre to go would be enough. It cost him more effort than he had hoped, but his second stage win was secured. Leknessund crossed in second, with teammate Martin Tjøtta third. Poels was the best-placed Dutch rider in ninth. The GC contenders had a sprint of their own at the finish, where Hindley and Vingegaard came out on top.