Spectacular! Jhonatan Narváez defeats the top favorite Tadej Pogacar in the first stage of the Giro d’Italia – Mundo Ciclístico Magazine

What a surprise! The first stage of Giro d’Italia 2024 was not won by Tadej Pogacarbut Jhonatan Narváez. The Ecuadorian was the only cyclist capable of following the Slovenian on the steep wall of Saint Vitus and then beat him in the sprint, after covering 140 kilometers between Venaria Reale and Turin.

The South American corridor of Ineos Grenadiers remained calm in the final packing, reacted to the attack of Pogacar and managed to come back convincingly against the Slovenian. In this way, he won a stage in the Corsa Rosa for the second time in his career and will wear the first pink jersey.

As for the six Colombians competing in the first major of the season, Daniel Felipe Martínez (BORA – hansgrohe) was the best of ours in the 13th box, then followed by Esteban Chaves (EF Education – EasyPost) in 18th place and Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) in the 21st position. While Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) He finished in 35th place, 57 seconds behind the winner.

The initial stage of the Corsa Rosa around Turin unusually offered opportunities for puncheurs and climbers. The Italian race organization classified the stage with three stars. The peloton faced three categorized climbs. First Berzano Di San Pietro (4.4 km at 4.1%)then the famous mountain towards the basilica of Superga (8 km at 4.3%) and then the Colle Maddalena (6.1 km at 7.4%)which gave them a total of 1,850 meters of elevation. And that was not all, because at the end there was the steep wall until San Vito (1.4 km at 9.4%).

They encouraged the escape of the day Andrea Pietrobon (Team Polti-Kometa), Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani), Louis Barre (Arkea-B&B), Nicolas Debeaumarché (Cofidis), Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty) and Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek), but in the final phase everyone was hunted by the group of favorites.

In the final section, after the leak was neutralized, Nicolas Conci He decided to try it alone. The Italian of Alpecin-Deceuninck He immediately opened a gap and was the first to begin the climb to the wall of Saint Vitus.

On this steep climb, at more than 9%, the battle between the favorites completely broke out. Pogacar started the steep climb in a not very good position and he had to do everything in his power to get back in front. The big favorite launched the expected attack, and even reached Conci. He stuck to the Slovenian’s wheel Jhonatan Narváezwho managed to respond to Pogacar’s constant attacks.

On the descent of San Vitus, Maximilian Schachmann He managed to catch up with the two leaders just after the top, so the final sprint had three runners. Pogacar was the first to packbut in the final meters he was surpassed by Narvaez and Schachmann.

The Corsa Rosa will continue this Sunday with a mountainous fraction of 161 kilometers between San Francesco al Campo and Sanctuary of Oropain a high ending (11.8 km at 6.1%).

Giro d’Italia 2024 (2.UWT)
Stage 1 results | Venaria Reale – Turin (140 km)

Individual General Classification