Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Cycling Weekly

Sport

Pat Kinsella

'Mas was the strongest in the climb… I knew I had to play my game' – Jhonatan Narváez sprints to victory on stage 11 of the 2026 Giro d'Italia

Jhonatan Narváez ITA Enric Mas Christian Scaroni Chris Harper AUS (Organization) Afonso Eulálio Diego Ulissi Red BullBoraHansgrohe Aleksandr Vlasov

Jhonatan Narváez took his third win of the 2026 Giro d'Italia on stage 11, after the Ecuadorian rider made the most of his superior sprint to take victory in a two-man dash for the line.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider kept Enric Mas (Movistar) at bay, after the Spaniard had led the way over the final climb of an undulating but tough and intense day.

Having endured a long road to recovery after crashes, injury and sickness, Mas was in fine fighting form, chasing his first stage win since 2022. And it might have felt tantalisingly close in the last few metres, but in reality Narváez was never going to lose in a two-horse race between the pair. Still, the Spaniard gave it a solid crack, and succeeded in making Narváez nervous in the process.

"I was scared because he almost tried to close me in the barriers, and I was on the limit," admitted the UAE rider immediately after nailing the win. "All day it was full gas racing. Not just in the uphill but the downhill also.

"When we started we said we have to jump in the breakaway because it's our goal. Then we missed the first group, then we missed the second group, then after two hours of hard racing I tried to jump straight to the breakaway, this was difficult. Enric Mas was the strongest in the climb, and I knew I had to play my game.

"He's stronger than me on the climbs. But I always remember a book I was reading, which said, if you don't have your game, just make your own game. You won't see Michael Phelps running - he's a specialist in the pool. And I just tried to defend myself in the uphills."

Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious ) put in a solid ride and will spend yet another another day in the Maglia Rosa, after tour favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) failed to seize control of the race during the monstrous 42km-long time-trial stage yesterday. The Dane remains in second position overall, 27 seconds behind Eulálio (who recently confessed to ignoring call from the Portuguese president, because it came up with an unrecognised number).

After a swift start, when riders were averaging 50km/ph for a couple of hours, the breakaway dominated the latter part of the day, during a stage in which riders faced some stiff hills and categorised times rather than actual mountains as they rode 195km, starting from Porcari and finishing at the town of Chiavari for the first time since the 1950s.

The peloton were a full 3 minutes behind by the time the lead group neared the top of Colla Dei Scioli (406m), but three of the breakaway riders – Filippo Ganna (Soudal–Quick-Step), Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto–Intermarché) and Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) – crashed during the descent, and although they remounted and Scaroni in particular put in a valiant effort, they were unable to recatch the lead riders.

With 25km to go, Narváez and Mas were in the leading group, along with Diego Ulissi (XDS-Astana), Chris Harper Pinarello Q36.5) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), as Scaroni desperately trying to fight his way back.

Mas went on the attack during the final 4km-long final climb, which featured a Red Bull Kilometre. Narváez hung tight to his rear wheel, Harper was digging deep and trying to stay with them, while Ulissi rode a more controlled climb to stay within reach. Mas got the bonus points for the climb, but he was outgunned on the finish straight and had to settle for second, with Ulissi just pipping the Australian Harper to the line for third.