In the hills of Leopardi second victory for Narvaez. The bigs admire the landscape
The first news to come out of stage eight of the Giro d'Italia (Chieti-Fermo, 156 km) is that the sun is shining. In a race dominated by Fantozzi's cloud, this is no small thing.
The first news to come out of stage eight of the Giro d'Italia (Chieti-Fermo, 156 km) is that the sun is shining. In a race dominated by Fantozzi's cloud, this is no small thing.
Second, that there were no falls: and this too is surprising news in a race where falling like skittles is a popular activity. The third was that Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narvaez, 29, won after a 50-kilometre breakaway ahead of two Norwegian riders: Andreas Leknessund +32") and Martin Tjotta (+42).
For Narvaez, already first in Cosenza, this is the fourth victory at the Giro d'Italia. The third this year for his team, the Uae Emirates, which in Bulgaria had been decimated by crashes, with the withdrawal of Adam Yates, one of the big favourites at the start.
The Ecuadorian, who had first gone into a breakaway with a trio, took flight for good with 10 kilometres to go on the Capodarco climb, a sort of Flanders wall in Marche pavé with peaks of 20%. Here Narvaez, since we are in the hills of Giacomo Leopardi, took flight like the lone sparrow, enjoying another splendid victory after a complicated start to the season due to a nasty crash with the fracture of three vertebrae.
He's a guy who doesn't give up, this Jhonatan: 'I like these climbs, I know them well. Then it was a short stage, only three and a half hours. This year, at the beginning, it was hard. But you have to be patient, because then everything comes back..."
