Narváez Continues UAE Return from Disaster

UAE Emirates-XRG showed it is turning the page after a catastrophic start to the Giro d’Italia, with Jhonatan Narváez picking up the team’s third victory in eight stages on Saturday.

The Ecuadorian champ slowed off his climbing talents in the tough finale of the stage to Fermo, shedding breakaway companions Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) plus his own UAE teammate Mikkel Bjerg inside 11km to go.

Leknessund did what he could to stick the pace but faded on terrain that simply didn’t suit him as well as his rival. The Norwegian eventually trailed in 32 seconds back. His teammate Martin Tjøtta surged out of the chase group to nab third.

“It was a nice stage for me,” Narváez said. “The first part was really difficult but I think we played well with my teammate. I think he was the man of the day, Mikkel Bjerg. He is always working for the team. Normally you never see him initiate on television, but he is a guy who does a lot for the team.

“We did an agreement, I can say now, but he was the man of the day for me.”

The move sparked off inside the final 78km and saw the trio fend off a hard-chasing pursuit behind.

Narváez’s victory was another important one for the UAE Emirates-XRG team, who saw GC contender Adam Yates, Jay Vine and Marc Soler leave the race in recent days.

Narváez previously won stage 4, while teammate Igor Arrieta triumphed the following day. The GC challenge has evaporated but the fighting spirit is remains strong.

“We are just five guys but we play well. We play smart,” Narváez said. “We have a good atmosphere in team. So I think still [more] victories in the next week.”

Two national champions, one stage winner

Stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia was another summit finish, although it was a less testing finale than Friday’s showdown on Blockhaus. It was mostly flat for the first 100km, with the race being peppered with category three and four climbs after that.

Bjerg and Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) went clear with Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) with 76km remaining. The latter wasn’t optimistic at first that he could do anything on the stage.

“I was active in the start to get in the break and then at some point I said to the guys ‘I think I will give up, there is no one going to get away with this headwind. it is so easy to follow,’” he said.

“But somehow I got away with Bjerg and Narváez. It was so hard to get the gap and get up to one minute or something, then we cooperated well.”

Pulling strongly together, the trio were three and a half minutes ahead of the peloton heading for 20km to go. With a big chase group unable to make any inroads it was increasingly clear that one of the those out front would win.

Narváez was the most recognized climber and began turning the screw inside 12km to go. This dropped Bjerg and then Leknessund. While the latter did take some time back on the descent, a 12 second gap with 3.5km to go started to go in the other direction on the wall-like climb towards the finish.

“In the end it was about the legs,” Narváez said.

Leknessund saw it the same way. “He was stronger in the end. Kind of as expected.”

Behind, maglia rosa Alfonso Eulálio attacked on the final climb in a bid to pad his advantage over Jonas Vingegaard. The Dane contained the Bahrain-Victorious rider and also did the same when former Giro champion Jai Hindley launched a move inside the tough final kilometer.

Eulálio conceded two seconds but is still 3:15 ahead of Vingegaard before Sunday’s summit finish at Corno alle Scale. Given the severity of the final climb, though, his ongoing race leadership is far from certain.