Uno-X undone by the formidable Bjerg — whose own reward never came

The opening phase of stage eight of the Giro d'Italia was ferocious. When the dust finally settled, UAE Team Emirates-XRG emerged with a numerical advantage from the day's breakaway — and it delivered another stage win for Jhonatan Narváez, rather than the hard-working riders of Uno-X Mobility. And not for warrior Mikkel Bjerg either.

Narváez cleverly broke clear alongside teammate Bjerg, with a third rider joining them: Andreas Leknessund, the Norwegian champion. Leknessund found himself in the vice — sandwiched between two UAE riders — but still worked with his rivals. In the finale he fought hard against Narváez for the stage win, but ultimately had to concede. It gave him second place, behind the Ecuadorian champion.

That Leknessund got to compete for the win at all felt like its own reward. He was extremely active throughout. "The start was with a very strong headwind," he said in the flash interview. "I was very active, but at a certain point I said to myself: I give up — we're not going to get away. But somehow it came together with Bjerg and Narváez. It was incredibly hard to build the gap. After that we worked really well together, and Narváez was unfortunately too strong. But honestly, I had expected that."

Which is why it doesn't quite feel like a painful defeat. "I can't be disappointed, of course. I can't really say I was very close to winning — but it was everything I had." Behind them, the chasers came back strongly, with teammate Martin Tjøtta finishing an impressive third. "It was hard work to even hold on for second. I thought the gap behind us was bigger — and then I saw Tjøtta come in third. That's great."

Bjerg was, without question, the man of the day. The Danish powerhouse emptied himself completely in service of his teammate — who duly took the stage win. "It was great — I'm really happy for Jhonny and for myself. It was the perfect stage, wasn't it? I had the chance to make the difference for the team. When Jhonny has legs like that, it's simple."

And so there were no illusions for the 27-year-old Bjerg. He could see clearly that Narváez was the stronger of the two. "He had to wait for me a little on one of the climbs, but after that it was around fourteen kilometres of time-trialling together and making sure we had a big enough gap for the finale." There is no trace of disappointment from a rider who has only one professional victory to his name. "For me, this feels like a win. I'm very proud of myself, and I just tried to enjoy the stage."