Narváez abandons Giro on queen stage after three wins and points battle

Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has abandoned the Giro d’Italia on stage 19. The Giro d’Italia confirmed that the Ecuadorian champion had abandoned the race with 125km remaining on the queen stage. 

UAE Team Emirates-XRG have confirmed that "Yesterday, the Ecuadorian suffered a small crash on the transfer back to the bus, which left him in some discomfort on the challenging terrain today."

UAE Team Emirates-XRG had a disastrous start to the Giro, losing Marc Soler, Jay Vine and Adam Yates to crashes all before the race reached Italy. 

Despite being down to five riders so early on, the race quickly turned on its head for the Emirati team when Narváez sprinted to victory on stage 4 from a reduced peloton in Cosenza. 

Narváez doubled up with victory from the breakaway on a hilly run to Fermo on stage 8 before completing the hat-trick a few days later, outsprinting Enric Mas on stage 11 in Chiavari. 

Due to taking three stage wins and his presence in multiple breakaways, Narváez had placed himself as a genuine contender to win the points classification. 

Narváez first moved into the maglia ciclamino ahead of Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) on stage 14, before losing it the following day. 

The Ecuadorian regained control on stage 17 thanks to being in the breakaway, but a third stage win on stage 18 for Magnier put the Frenchman 37 points ahead and firmly in the driving seat. 

With Narváez's abandon, UAE are down to four riders including stage 5 winner Igor Arrieta, Mikkel Bjerg, Jan Christen and António Morgado.