"I think I spent too much" said Jhonatan Narváez after stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia to Andalo, after what looked like a prime opportunity for the UAE Team Emirates rider to clinch a fourth victory at the 2026 edition of the race slipped away.
The rider and his team had been ideally placed in the large break, with three riders in the move, as Jan Christen and also stage 5 winner Igor Arrieta joined Narváez out the front of the race. Only Movistar was better placed when it came to strength in numbers.
Though it was not an advantage that worked for either of the teams when it came down to the chase for the stage victory, with Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) claiming the win and Rubio Einer being the best placed Movistar rider with fifth. For UAE Team Emirates Arrieta was the best placed rider in sixth while Narváez was ninth.
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"I think in the end the strongest guys of the breakaway were behind," Narváez told reporters after the stage. "Enric Mas [Movistar] was with me, Giulio Ciccone [Lidl-Trek] was with me. We missed the group."
The chances are quickly running out for the stage hunters at the Italian Grand Tour, with a double dose of mountain days ahead for stage 19 and 20 before a sprint finish in Rome.
“It was a great opportunity to be honest, to take the stage," said Narváez of Wednesday's stage in a team statement. "But it is cycling, and I don’t know how many guys were in the breakaway, but I am happy with my day, and also with my Giro."
There is a good reason for that, as even though one opportunity was missed on Wednesday the energy was spent on another objective, which was firmly achieved.
Arrieta closed down an attack on the run in to the intermediate sprint so Narváez could leap out of the front group to clinch the 12 sprint points on offer at around 60 kilometres to go. That was enough to put Narváez back in the maglia ciclamino, with 157 points and Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep), the only rider within reach in the battle for the sprint jersey, now sits at 145 points.
“My two teammates helped me to do the intermediate sprint, and then we raced until the last climb. I am not thinking about Rome yet, we will go day by day. We know that Paul Magnier is very good, so we need to go day by day.”
And what is up next on stage 18 is another day that plays more to the strengths of Narváez, who has more staying power on the climbs than his rival in the sprint competition. Thursday's 168km day of racing in the Veneto region passes through the hilly Prosecco vineyards, has an intermediate sprint at 135.4 kilometres into the day of racing and climbs the Ca' del Poggio hillside just 10km from the finish.
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