Stage 8 was circled in the road book as a prime breakaway opportunity, which naturally meant the peloton spent the first few hours stubbornly refusing to let anyone escape. When the traditional breakaway failed to materialize in the whirling headwind, UAE Team Emirates-XRG forced the issue themselves.
Despite operating with a depleted roster of just five surviving riders after a crash-heavy opening week, UAE managed the race well into Fermo. Jhonatan Narváez claimed his second stage victory of the Giro, but he owes half his prize money to the Danish rouleur, Mikkel Bjerg.
With 76 kilometers still to race, Narváez and Bjerg launched a two-man attack into the headwind, dragging Uno-X Mobility’s Andreas Leknessund along for the ride.
When a chase group organized, UAE’s Jan Christen and Igor Arrieta embedded themselves in the move. Unsurprisingly, none of the rival teams were interested in doing the work to drag two fresh UAE riders up to the leaders, killing the pursuit and allowing the front trio’s gap to balloon.
As the race hit the steep gradients approaching Fermo in the final 30 kilometers, a UAE team victory felt inevitable. With 10.7 kilometers remaining, Bjerg emptied his tank with a sacrificial attack. Leknessund had no choice but to dig deep and close down the Dane.
Less than a kilometer later, with Leknessund in the red, Narváez launched his counter-attack. The Uno-X rider had no response. Narváez rode away on the punishing gradients, holding on to cross the finish line over 30 seconds ahead of the chasers to secure UAE’s third stage win of the week.
Results
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