Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) quietly collected more points toward the maglia ciclamino competition during stage 16 on the roads to Cari in the Giro d'Italia. The Ecuadorian inched closer to leader Paul Maginer (Soudal-QuickStep), adding mounting pressure onto the Frenchman to win the only remaining sprint stage in Rome on Sunday.
"I will try to keep the jersey, but Narváez is now targeting the jersey. We saw that in the intermediate sprints, and he was even up there in the Milan sprint. I will have to fight for it," Magnier told the assembled media.
Narváez has won three stages of this Giro d'Italia in Cosenza, Fermo and Chiavari, and even pulled on the maglia ciclamino following stage 14 to Pila.
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While Magnier, who won two stages in Burgas and Sofia, took the jersey back the next day in Milan, he didn't secure as many points as he could have because a winning breakaway of four riders scooped up the majority of the high-placing points on offer.
"I expected to take a bit more points in Milan, but it did not happen. Now the next big goal is Rome. Between now and Rome, the most important thing will be to recover each day," Magnier said.
It's no secret that Narváez is aiming to win the maglia ciclamino, intentionally riding in breakaways so that he can pick up points in the intermediate sprints.
Narváez started stage 16 just 14 points behind Magnier, and it was no surprise to see him, once again, in the day's breakaway, where he secured full points in Ludiano at the 74.4km mark. He is now just two points away from Magnier's leading tally of 145.
In an interview with Cyclingnews after he crossed the finish line atop Cari, Narváez confirmed that he had intended to go for the points today. "Yes, it was very fast. I wasn't aiming for the stage because it was too hard for me."
In a post to its official social media platform, Velon.cc released Narváez's performance data to illustrate just how much effort he put toward making it into the breakaway.
"He produced a huge effort to form part of the lead group on Stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia," Velon wrote, highlighting his data from the first 50km of the race:
- Time: 1:12:06
- Avg speed: 42.5 km/h
- Max speed: 75.5 km/h
- Avg power: 310W
- Max power: 1160W
The next two stages will be well-suited to Narváez, too, and we can expect him to not only race his way into the breakaway but also to try to collect another stage win in Andalo or Pieve di Soligo.
"I have an advantage, but he's climbing much better than me, and we all know that the third week is pretty tough with all the climbs," Magnier said.
