What a surprise! The first stage of the Giro d’Italia 2024 was not won by Tadej Pogacar, but by Jhonatan Narvaez. The Ecuadorian was the only cyclist able to follow the Slovenian on the steep wall of San Vito and then beat him in a sprint, after 140 kilometers between Venaria Reale and Torino.
The South American rider of Ineos Grenadiers kept his cool in the final bunch, reacted to Pogacar’s attack and managed to convincingly overtake the Slovenian. He thus won a stage in the Corsa Rosa for the second time in his career and will wear the first pink jersey.
The opening stage of the Corsa Rosa around Turin offered unusually good opportunities for puncheurs and climbers. The Italian race organizers rated the stage as a three-star stage. The peloton faced three categorized climbs.
First Berzano Di San Pietro (4.4 km at 4.1%), then the famous mountain to the basilica of Superga (8 km at 4.3%) and then Colle Maddalena (6.1 km at 7.4%), giving them a total of 1,850 meters of elevation gain. And that wasn’t all, because at the finish was the steep wall up to San Vito (1.4 km at 9.4%).
The breakaway of the day was led by Andrea Pietrobon (Team Polti-Kometa), Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani), Louis Barré (Arkea-B&B), Nicolas Debeaumarché (Cofidis), Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty) and Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek), but in the final stage they were all caught by the group of favorites.
In the final stretch, after the breakaway was neutralized, Nicolas Conci decided to try solo. The Italian Alpecin-Deceuninck rider immediately opened up a gap and was the first to start the climb to the San Vito wall.
On this steep climb, at over 9%, the battle between the favorites fully exploded. Pogacar started the steep climb in a not very good position and had to do everything in his power to get back in front. The big favorite launched the expected attack, and even reached Conci. On the Slovenian’s wheel was Jhonatan Narvaez, who managed to respond to Pogacar’s constant attacks.
On the descent of San Vito, Maximilian Schachmann managed to catch the two leaders just after the summit, so the final sprint had three riders. Pogacar was the first to break away, but in the final meters he was overtaken by Narváez and Schachmann.
As for the six Colombians who dispute the first big one of the season, Daniel Felipe Martinez (BORA – hansgrohe) was the best of ours in 13th place, then followed Esteban Chaves (EF Education – EasyPost) in 18th place and Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) in 21st place. While Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) finished in 35th place 57 seconds behind the winner.
The Corsa Rosa will continue this Sunday with a 161-kilometer mountainous stage between San Francesco al Campo and Santuario di Oropa, with a high finish (11.8 km at 6.1%).
Giro d’Italia 2024 (2.UWT)
Resultados Stage 1| Venaria Reale – Torino (140 km)
| 1 | Jhonatan Narváez | INEOS Grenadiers | 3:14:23 |
| 2 | Maximilian Schachmann | BORA – hansgrohe | ,, |
| 3 | Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates | ,, |
| 4 | Alex Baudin | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 0:06 |
| 5 | Nicola Conci | Alpecin – Deceuninck | 0:10 |
| 6 | Quinten Hermans | Alpecin – Deceuninck | ,, |
| 7 | Mauri Vansevenant | Soudal Quick-Step | ,, |
| 8 | Antonio Tiberi | Bahrain – Victorious | ,, |
| 9 | Attila Valter | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 10 | Geraint Thomas | INEOS Grenadiers | ,, |
Ranking General
| 1 | Jhonatan Narváez | INEOS Grenadiers | 3:14:13 |
| 2 | Maximilian Schachmann | BORA – hansgrohe | 0:03 |
| 3 | Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates | 0:06 |
| 4 | Alex Baudin | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 0:16 |
| 5 | Damiano Caruso | Bahrain – Victorious | 0:17 |
| 6 | Nicola Conci | Alpecin – Deceuninck | 0:18 |
| 7 | Quinten Hermans | Alpecin – Deceuninck | 0:20 |
| 8 | Mauri Vansevenant | Soudal Quick-Step | ,, |
| 9 | Antonio Tiberi | Bahrain – Victorious | ,, |
| 10 | Attila Valter | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico