Jhonatan Narváez marked his return from injury with victory on stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia, giving UAE Team Emirates-XRG a timely lift in the opening week.
The Ecuadorian won the 138km stage from Catanzaro to Cosenza in 3:08:46, beating Orluis Aular of Movistar and Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek in the sprint.
It was Narváez’s first race since breaking several vertebrae at the Tour Down Under in January.
His win came after a sharp late move from UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Jan Christen. The Swiss rider attacked inside the final two kilometres on the technical run-in to Cosenza, forcing the race favourites to respond.
That move helped set up Narváez, who came through strongly in the final sprint after positioning himself well through the last corner.
Christen finished safely among the lead group and moved into the maglia bianca as the best young rider. He also climbed to second overall in the general classification, four seconds behind Ciccone, who now wears the maglia rosa.
The stage win was a welcome result for UAE Team Emirates-XRG after a difficult start to the Giro, with several riders caught up in crashes during the opening stages in Bulgaria.
“This victory means a lot for me.”
“This victory means a lot for me,” Narváez said. “I want to send thanks to my family, my wife and my team who have been a great support during all this time I was out injured and preparing for this race.”
“Obviously I would also like to dedicate this to my teammates who crashed on stage 2 and are no longer here in the race. I wish them a good recovery.”
“In the finale I took the corner at 700m to go in a really good position and then it was just all about the legs in the sprint. I’m really glad I could deliver this victory.”
Stage 4 results
- Jhonatan Narváez, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 3:08:46
- Orluis Aular, Movistar, same time
- Giulio Ciccone, Lidl-Trek, same time
General classification after stage 4
- Giulio Ciccone, Lidl-Trek, 16:18:51
- Jan Christen, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +4 seconds
- Florian Stork, Tudor Pro Cycling, same time
