As soon as the finale of stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia took a detour away from the Po and onto the climb to San Vito, Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) was taken to a place beyond numbers. Once Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) began running through his repertoire, there was no time to make calculations. All he could do was back himself and try to follow the Slovenian.
An already shrunken peloton was splintered still further by Pogačar’s attack 4km from the line, but Narváez adapted better to the cadence of suffering than anyone else. Three times Pogačar unleashed fearsome accelerations, and each time Narváez managed to hang tough, absorbing the punishment like Rocky Marciano while others behind him were beginning to wobble precariously.
