Giro d’Italia: Narváez storms past Mas for third win as Eulálio keeps pink jersey

Ecuador’s Jhonatan Narváez edged out the Spaniard Enric Mas at the end of Wednesday’s stage 11 to win his third stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia as Afonso Eulálio retained the leader’s pink jersey.

Narváez (UAE Team Emirates XRG) and Mas (Movistar) were left to battle for the win after leaving the breakaway group on the final climb and Mas made the first move, only for the Ecuadorian to overtake him before the line. The Italian Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana) won the race for third place at the end of the entertaining 195km ride from Porcari to Chiavari.

“Mas was the strongest in the climb and I knew I had to play my game, I just tried to defend myself on the uphill,” said Narváez. “I was scared because when he did the sprint he almost closed me on the barriers and I was on the limit, but it was full gas racing all day, because we don’t race just in the uphills, we race on the downhills also.”

Riders make their way from Porcari to Chiavari. Photograph: Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse/AP

There was no change at the top of the general classification, with Portugal’s Eulálio maintaining his 27-second lead over the race favourite Jonas Vingegaard.

The first half of the stage provided plenty of opportunities for breakaways from the peloton before the riders reached the first of three categorised climbs. Early attacks were reeled in and the group that managed to get away grew in size as others left the bunch to go in chase, before the race settled down on the second climb with a 12-man group over three minutes ahead of the peloton.

A crash on the descent brought down three of the leaders, and the breakaway began to split. On the uncategorised climb before the finish, Mas attacked and Narváez followed. And with Mas unable to shake off the Ecuadorian before the descent, Narváez was always going to be the favourite in a sprint finish.

More scenic scenes on the road to Chiavari. Photograph: Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse/AP

Mas, a three-time runner-up in the Vuelta a España, is out of contention for the overall win but was desperate for a stage victory on his Giro debut. It was Narváez, though, who claimed the fifth Giro stage win of his career.

The peloton, containing all the GC contenders, trailed in more than three minutes behind the winner, and Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) will wear the pink in Thursday’s stage 12, a flat 175km ride from Imperia to Novi Ligure.