Narváez warms to unorthodox ciclamino charge: 'The best way to get points is to win'

Jhonatan Narváez reported for the start in Voghera on Sunday with matching handlebar tape to mark his first day in the maglia ciclamino of the Giro d’Italia. The points classification wasn’t a target for Narváez before the Giro began, and his mechanics sourced the coloured tape for the occasion from their colleagues at Jayco-AlUla. 

But although Narváez lost the jersey again to Paul Magnier in Milan on Sunday afternoon, he enters the final week of the Giro just 14 points down on the Frenchman and still firmly in the mix to claim a surprise win in the competition.

The expectation within the UAE Team Emirates-XRG camp was that Magnier’s lead would be heftier after the Milan stage, but a dramatic heist by winner Fredrik Dversnes and his breakaway companions meant Magnier won the sprint for fifth place rather than first, adding 15 points to his tally rather than 50. Game on.

Stage 21 to Rome is the only clear sprint opportunity left and the only remaining finish with the maximum 50 points on offer for the day’s winner. In the five preceding stages, Narváez has the terrain to carve out opportunities to move ahead of Magnier and give himself a fighting chance of denying him the jersey in Rome.

“It’s tough – really tough – because there are 50 points on offer in the pure sprint stages, plus the bonus sprints,” UAE sports manager Joxean Matxin Fernandez told Domestique. “It suits a sprinter more, and those are just the rules of the game. But if we can do it, then why not?”

It feels misleading to describe Narváez as an accidental contender for the points classification, because there was nothing unintentional or fortuitous about his three stage victories to this point. When UAE lost their GC leader Adam Yates in the mass crash on stage 2 in Bulgaria, they simply flitted into stage-hunting mode, and Narváez has put together a hat-trick of the highest quality.

After winning a reduced sprint in Cosenza on stage 4, the Ecuadorian champion proceeded to solo to victory in Fermo on stage 8 before dispatching Enric Mas in a two-up finish in Chiavari on stage 11. 

Jonas Vingegaard is winning this Giro at a canter, but the most sparkling performer here has arguably been Narváez, who is lining out on his first race since he crashed out of the Tour Down Under in January.

“Initially we’d actually thought about bringing him in a little earlier to do a few races before the Giro, but after talking with him, we decided that he’d stay in Ecuador and train perfectly at altitude at home,” Matxin said. “Even though we had the plan to go for GC at this Giro, it was always the idea that Jhonatan would have four stages where he could chase the win himself.”

Narváez has seized every opportunity that has come his way to date, and he snapped another when Magnier and the best sprinters were dropped on the climb of Bric Berton on stage 12 to Novi Ligure. 

By sprinting to eighth place there, Narváez moved to within 11 points of Magnier, and the maglia ciclamino suddenly became a goal. On Saturday’s mountainous run to Pila, Narváez entered the day’s early break and hoovered up a dozen points at the intermediate sprint to move briefly ahead of Magnier.

“We only started to think about it when we saw he was 11 points behind,” Matxin said. “And even then, it was purely mathematical. We didn’t plan it, to be honest, but we saw there were 12 points up for grabs on top of a climb on Saturday where it was going to be very difficult for the sprinters and much easier for Jhonatan. So why not?”

Why not indeed? Narváez’s hat-trick of stage wins is a rare feat for a rider who isn’t a sprinter or a GC contender, and it brings to mind Erik Dekker’s haul of breakaway triumphs on the 2000 Tour de France. Unlike Dekker, Narváez’s flurry of victories has brought him firmly into the mix for the points jersey. 

Matxin insisted, however, that Narváez would not start racing purely for points in the final days of what looks set to be an asymmetric contest for the maglia ciclamino.

Stage 18 to Pieve di Soligo looks set to be a pivotal day, with 50 points for the winner but with the climb of Muro Ca’ del Poggio in the finale. It looks an obvious opportunity for the on-form Narváez, who might also pick off points at intermediate sprints on the mountainous days to come.

“We – and I, in particular – have always believed that the best way to earn points is to win,” Matxin said. “If you focus on winning, you’ll earn the most points of all. We have to think about winning stages and let it come as a result of that. It won’t be a one-on-one battle because he can’t go head-to-head with Magnier in a sprint, so it should come down to the results of the stages one way or another.”