After several attacks in the finale, Jhonatan Narváez took the victory on the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia, taking the overall lead and the first Maglia Rosa of the race. The Ineos Grenadiers rider went clear with Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) on an uncategorised climb with around 3.5km to go and outsprinted both of them in the final few hundred metres to take the win.
This marks the Ecuadorian’s second stage victory of his career at the Giro d’Italia, as he won solo in cold and wet conditions on stage 12 to Cesenatico in 2020. However, today’s stage was a much different affair, as the riders stayed dry throughout the day and Narváez was able to use his quick turn of speed in the sprint.
Speaking in his post-race interview after the stage, Narváez said “it was a great feeling. We knew with the team one month ago that it would be a stage for me and I worked a lot on it. To follow the best guy in the world on the climb was really hard, so it’s a special victory today”.
On what it was like to follow Pogačar on the climb and beat him in the final sprint, Narváez went on to say that “it still hurts me now. It was really hard and in the end I made it. I think he went too long with around 200 metres to go after a really hard stage. I did a shorter sprint and in the end I took the victory”.
Despite finishing in third place on the stage after making the decisive attack in the finale, Pogačar managed to take time on all of the other favourites with a gap of around 10 seconds to the peloton at the finish, as well as four bonus seconds. His teammates had set a hard pace throughout the stage, which saw the likes of Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) lose more time, as they were dropped on the Colle Maddalena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
At the start of the day, the breakaway formed fairly quickly, as a six man group containing Louis Barré (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), Nicolas Debeaumarché (Cofidis), Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek), Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-Kometa) and Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) went off the front after 130km.
They got a gap of around a minute and a half over the peloton, as the favourites’ teams seemed content with the selection at the head of the race. UAE Team Emirates were the team setting the pace in the main group, as they sent Vegard Stake Laengen to the front to control the gap to the breakaway.
Fiorelli was active early on, as he was clearly the best sprinter out of the six riders in the breakaway, which allowed him to take maximum points on the Berzano di San Pietro climb and at the intermediate sprint in Moriondo Torinese.
As they hit the Superga climb, Calmejane attempted to whittle down the group with Pietrobon on his wheel. Ghebreigzabhier then bridged across to the two riders and instantly passed them, dropping both riders off the wheel. Fiorelli then gradually rode his way back on, making it a three man chase behind the Eritrean.
Ghebreigzabhier’s gap to the peloton sat at over three minutes as he took maximum points on the summit of Superga, with Calmejane then joining him at the front after he pushed on over the top of the climb. They would work together to extend their gap over Pietrobon and Fiorelli as Debeaumarché and Barré were caught by the peloton.
Calmejane rolled over the line at the Intergiro sprint to take the lead in that classification, but as they neared the final categorised climb of the day at the Colle Maddalena their focus was mainly on who would be wearing the Maglia Azzurra at the end of the day.
Ghebreigzabhier did briefly distance Calmejane on an uncategorised climb with around 34km to go, but the Frenchman was able to get back across to him as they went through the finish line and took the bell with one lap of the finishing circuit left.
Pietrobon and Fiorelli were then caught by the peloton before a crash involving Robert Gesink and Domenico Pozzovivo occurred in the main group.
As the two riders at the head of the race hit the slopes of the Colle Maddalena, Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) came to the front of the peloton to set a hard tempo. Calmejane then dropped Ghebreigzabhier, as their gap went to under 30 seconds.
The pace in the peloton saw several riders dropped out of the back, with the likes of Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) all losing touch with the main group. Ghebreigzabhier was then caught by the peloton, as Rafał Majka (UAE Team Emirates) came to the front with Pogačar in his wheel.
Calmejane held on over the top of the climb to take the maximum points and seal the Maglia Azzurra for the stage, but the peloton now had him in their sights.
After the descent, Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) launched an attack behind and they quickly got a gap, with Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco AlUla), Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) then joining them.
They would catch Calmejane with around 10km to go, making it an eight man group out front, before Conci then launched another attack, with the Italian going solo at the head of the race.
As they hit the foot of the uncategorised climb for the second time, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) came to the front of the peloton as they caught the chasing group. With 3.5km to go, the Slovenian launched the decisive attack bringing Schachmann and Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) with him. They would catch and drop Conci a few hundred metres later before beginning the descent to the finish.
In the final kilometre, Pogačar led out the sprint with Narváez in his wheel. Schachmann launched first from behind, before Pogačar then reacted, whilstNarváez stayed in the slipstream for as long as possible before he accelerated and came around Pogačar, who did not have the legs to respond as Narváez took the victory ahead of Schachmann.
Behind them, Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) had broken out of the group to finish in fourth place just six seconds behind the leaders. This meant that 22-year-old took the Maglia Bianca for the best young rider, whilst Conci held on to finish fifth ahead of the peloton.
RESULTS: GIRO D’ITALIA, STAGE 1, VENARIA REALE > TURIN (140KM)
1. Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, in 3:14:23
2. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
3. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, all at same time
4. Alex Baudin (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +6s
5. Nicola Conci (Ita) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +10s
6. Quinten Hermans (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck
7. Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
8. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
9. Attila Valter (Hun) Visma-Lease a Bike
10. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same time
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE ONE
1. Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, in 3:14:23
2. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, +3s
3. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, +6s
4. Alex Baudin (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +16s
5. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +17s
6. Nicola Conci (Ita) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +18s
7. Quinten Hermans (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +20s
8. Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
9. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
10. Attila Valter (Hun) Visma-Lease a Bike, all at same time
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