'We are just five guys, but we play well, we play smart' - Narvaez on UAE's depleted Giro squad

The win is UAE's third of the race after Narvaez's stage 4 win in Cosenza and Igor Arrieta's stage 5 victory in Potenza, all three taken by a squad now reduced to five riders after the casualties of the opening week.

Speaking after the line, Narvaez framed the win around his comeback from January's crash at the Tour Down Under.

"It's important for me, even coming from the injury in January," Narvaez said. "We are just five guys, but we play well, we play smart. We have a good atmosphere in the team, so I think still victories in the next week."

The 29-year-old paid particular tribute to teammate Mikkel Bjerg, the Danish rider whose work at the front of the race had set the stage up.

"It was the first part really difficult, but I think we played well with my teammate," Narvaez said. "I think he was the man of the day, Mikkel Bjerg. He's always working for the team, even last year. He's a guy who normally you see him on TV, but he's a guy who does a lot for the team. We did an agreement, I can't say now on TV, but he was the man of the day for me."

The opening half of the stage had been brutal in the wind. Narvaez was direct about how hard the first part had been to navigate, with the chasing peloton sitting up against a strong headwind on the flat.

"If you see the first part, it was full headwind. Riding flat in the headwind for me was really hard. I think we never gave up. Sixty kilometres to go, we ride well, we ride smart, and then we had the opportunity to go for the stage."

The closing kilometres saw Leknessund close back to within striking distance, with the Norwegian one of the most active breakaway riders of the race so far. Narvaez admitted the finale had come down to the legs after a long day in a headwind.

"In the end it was about the legs."