The peloton’s decision to treat Stage 11 like an open free-for-all resulted in yet another of the chaotic tactical scrambles that we keep seeing in this year’s Giro. Despite initially missing the split, Jhonatan Narváez clawed his way back to the front of the race and eventually out-sprinted Movistar’s Enric Mas to claim his third stage victory of this year’s Giro.
The first half of the stage from Porcari to Chiavari was a mess, with the peloton logging over 50 kilometers of relentless attacks before a breakaway successfully snapped the elastic. When UAE realized they had missed the move, Mikkel Bjerg and António Morgado went to the front of the bunch and began to drag the gap back down. This gave Narváez the launchpad he needed to launch a solo bridge across to the leaders on the Passo del Termine.
Once established in the 17-rider front group, the race became a battle of attrition over the Ligurian climbs. Enric Mas used the gradients to attack the group, eventually isolating everyone except Narváez and Chris Harper. Mas made one final surge on an uncategorized climb that dropped Harper, setting up a tense, two-up descent into Chiavari. Narváez overpowered the Spanish climber in the final 200 meters, noting after the race that he “just made his own game” to survive Mas’s attacks on the climbs so he could finish him off in the sprint.
Results
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