Narváez spoils Movistar’s party on Giro stage 4 as Ciccone takes maglia rosa

Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) sprinted to victory on stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia in Cosenza from a reduced peloton ahead of Orluis Aular (Movistar) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), after Aular had his teammates take control of the final 50km.

Movistar took the initiative on the day’s only categorised climb, Cozzo Tunno, setting a relentless tempo that slashed the hopes of the sprinters and saw race leader Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS Astana) distanced, meaning the maglia rosa was up for grabs.

Even Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) found himself distanced, but the Colombian champion was able to retrieve the situation on the run-in to Cosenza, as Movistar continued to dictate the tempo. 

Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) threw a cat among the pigeons, attacking with 1.6km remaining, forcing Movistar to burn matches. In the end, Christen was caught with 400 metres remaining, leaving Aular to open the sprint, but Narváez had enough to come past the Venezuelan.

It marks the third Giro stage win in Narváez's career and is a major boost for UAE, having lost three riders already in Bulgaria. The Giro was also the Ecuadorian Champion's comeback race after abandoning the Santos Tour Down Under in January.

In the process of finishing third, Ciccone also moves into the maglia rosa for the first time.

Mattia Bais (Polti-VisitMalta), Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost), Niklas Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockets), Warren Barguil (Picnic PostNL), Johan Jacobs (Groupama-FDJ United), and Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber) formed the day’s breakaway shortly after the flag drop in Catanzaro.

Former two-time stage winner Kaden Groves was forced to abandon with around 100km to go, with the Australian suffering from the effects of his crash on stage 1.

Movistar took up the pace setting at the bottom of the Cozzo Tunno climb, which started with 57km to go, as Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar) set a strong pace that would prove to be significant. 

The sprinters began to drop like flies, with Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets), Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Tobias Lund Andersen (Decathlon CMA CGM) all distanced in the first couple of kilometres of the climb. 

Additionally, the race leader, Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS Astana), also found himself distanced, meaning that it was likely that there would be a new owner of the maglia rosa at the end of the stage.  

Meanwhile, Bais and Rafferty were the final two riders to be caught by the peloton, with the catch made with 50km to go, with still over half the climb remaining. Movistar continued to torch with Milesi and four other riders at the front of the peloton as Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos) was the next major rider to be distanced.

Milesi finally swung off from the front with 47km to go, the end of a tremendous job by the Italian, leaving his Movistar teammates to continue the effort. 

Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was also distanced, and with 45km remaining, Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) found himself right towards the back of the peloton, and the Colombian champion found his GC ambitions slipping away. 

Ben Turner (Netcompany-Ineos) remained with the distanced Bernal, but the duo would have their work cut out to return. They would be aided in their chase on the descent after Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) suffered a mechanical and joined forces, making contact with the peloton with 17km remaining.

Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) won the Red Bull KM with 11km remaining ahead of Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), putting the Swiss rider in a four-way tie with Bernal, Ciccone and Florian Stork (Tudor) for the virtual maglia rosa. 

Movistar continued to set the tempo on the run-in to the finish, and inside the final 3km, had three riders in front of Aular.

Christen launched an attack with 1.6km remaining, forcing Movistar and Lidl-Trek to burn matches. Christen was caught on the final straight with 400 metres remaining as Aular opened his sprint up early but it was Narváez who came out on top.