Jhonatan Narváez roars to his third Giro d’Italia stage victory of the race

For the third time in this year’s Giro d’Italia, Jhonatan Narváez came up trumps to land a brilliant stage win for UAE Team Emirates-XRG. Picking up another victory on stage 11, the Ecuadorian national champion made it four stage wins from 11 days for the Emirati squad.

Over the tough hills that linked Tuscany and Liguria, Narváez was in scintillating form and would not be denied on Wednesday afternoon, despite stiff competition from Enric Mas of Movistar. The three-time Vuelta a España runner-up crossed the line in second place, with Narváez getting the better of Mas in a two-up sprint to the line.

As the breakaway was whittled down on the climbs, it was the pair of Narváez and Mas that emerged as the strongest. Their battle went right to the wire in Chiavari, but for Narváez, the opportunity of vying for another stage win was not always in his grasp.

Earlier in the stage, the 29-year-old and his teammates had missed the moves which looked set to determine the breakaway composition. But the UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad rallied and ensured that an in-form Narváez could bridge across to the front.

Once at the head of the race, the Ecuadorian produced a fantastic display to pick up another memorable victory.

Stage 11 had always looked like perfect terrain for a breakaway battle. The second half of the stage, scattered with short but sharp climbs, provided the necessary parcours for a good contest, but without the difficulty that would tempt the general classification contenders into battle. As such, the fight to get into the breakaway of the day proved lengthy.

With over 160km of the stage between Porcari and Chiavari to go, UAE Team Emirates-XRG was one of a number of teams that looked to trigger the first attacks. Igor Arrieta, Jan Christen and Narváez all made their own moves, as did the likes of Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost). It was not for another 40km, however, that a move looked set to stick.

After 50km of racing, a leading trio consisted of Chris Harper (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Mattia Bais (Team Polti VisitMalta), and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility). Less than 30 seconds behind this group was a collection of nine riders, whilst the peloton sat another minute down the road. All signs pointed to the front two groups merging, and the peloton letting the gap grow to a substantial margin.

The problem, however, was that UAE Team Emirates-XRG was not represented in the front two groups and would not be contesting for the day’s honours. Without a hint of delay, the Emirati squad looked to change the situation.

Mikkel Bjerg and António Morgado immediately coalesced at the front of the peloton and began to drive the pace, determined to close the gap to the front of the race. In the next 5km, the pair reduced the gap by almost 30 seconds, and it became time for the last call from the peloton. It was now or never to spring a move to bridge across to the breakaway.

As Arrieta, Christen and Narváez all traded attacks for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, big hitters such as Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) looked to join the party.

Eventually, as the race hit the slopes of the first climb of the race, the Passo del Termine, a small group of hopefuls had clipped off the front of the peloton. Amongst its number were Warren Barguil (Team Picnic PostNL), Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Mobility), Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team), and, crucially, Narváez of UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

With the kilometres ticking by on the Passo del Termine, their gap from the breakaway of the day stood at 40 seconds, and as the chasing group swelled, cooperation began to falter. Sensing that an opportunity was slipping away, Narváez took a flyer with 83.7km of the day to go, and made short work of the 40-second gap.

In incredible fashion, the Ecuadorian national champion bridged across the gap and joined the leading group. The Emirati squad was back in the running.

After another 10km of racing, the breakaway of the day sat at a 17-rider strong group, with names such as Enric Mas (Movistar), Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step) and Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché) all included. With the peloton knocking off the pace, it was apparent that the stage win would be contested from the group out front.

On the second of three categorised climbs, the Colle di Guaitarola (9.6km at 6.4%), Mas was the first to make an attack to whittle down the group. The slopes were tough here, and the strongest riders soon came to the fore, including Narváez and Harper, of Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling.

With Narváez and Mas always at the head of proceedings, their strength was apparent, but as the final categorised climb approached, others were determined to take their opportunity. On the Colla dei Sciolo (5.7km at 6.3%), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana Team) showed their face, before the battle was reduced again to Narváez, Mas and Harper.

It was on the uncategorised rise to the Red Bull KM that this trio emerged once more, with the rest of the breakaway now in splintered groups further down the road. As the most accomplished climber of the three, Mas felt the urge to attack, and with the Spaniard’s move, Harper was distanced. Over the top of the Red Bull KM, the Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling rider was gone, and only Narváez and Mas remained.

On the descent to Chiavari, Narváez pressed the pace, and the duo headed into the final 5km with an advantage of around 20 seconds over their competitors. That gap steadily reduced as both Mas and Narváez began to look at one another, but never did it look likely that those from behind would make the catch.

Noting Narváez’s superiority in such a situation, Mas was the first to launch his sprint, with 200m to go. But the Ecuadorian soon latched onto the Spaniard’s back wheel and then came over his left-hand shoulder, powering to the front. It was a competitive sprint, but the UAE Team Emirates-XRG was the favourite for a reason and crossed the line in first place.

A third stage victory of the race for Narváez, then, but not one that came easy, as he described in his post-race interview.

Narváez: “All day was hard. When we started the meeting in the bus saying that we had to jump in the breakaway, because of our goal, and then we missed the first group, then we missed the second group. Then, after two hours of hard racing, I tried straight to jump to the breakaway, and I think this was difficult. Enric Mas was the strongest in the climb, and I knew I had to play my game.”

“He is stronger than me in the climbs. But I was remembering a book I was reading. The book says, ‘if you don’t have your game, just make your own game.’ You will never see Michael Phelps running, he is a specialist for the pool. I just tried to defend myself in the uphill.

“I was scared when he did the sprint, because he almost closed me in the barriers and we were both on the limit. Imagine, all day was full gas racing. We don’t race just in the uphills, we race in the downhills also.”

Giro d’Italia 2026 stage 11 results:

1. Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 4:33:43

2. Enric Mas (Movistar) s.t

3. Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana Team) +11″

Giro d’Italia 2026 general classification after stage 11:

1. Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) 44:17:41

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +27″

3. Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) +1:57