Tadej Pogacar tried to set the Giro d’Italia alight on the very first stage, attacking at the foot of the final climb to leave most others trailing in his wake. Not, however, Jhonatan Narvaez, who tracked the wheel of the Slovenian and even sprinted past him on the line to seal victory on Stage 1. Eurosport’s ‘Breakaway’ panel assessed Narvaez’s display and what it means for the Ineos Grenadiers.
There was only one question on the mind of most cycling fans at the conclusion of Stage 1 at the Giro d’Italia – when was the last time anyone kept up with Tadej Pogacar?
The Slovenian has blazed a trail through 2024 so far, attacking from 81km out at Strade Bianche, coasting to victory at the Volta a Catalunya and then launching another unstoppable solo sortie to take Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
And it looked like he was going to sail into pink on his debut stage at the Giro d’Italia – until one man intervened.
That man was Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narvaez, who was the only rider to remain on Pogacar’s back wheel when he attacked on the final climb, and then had enough composure and power in the tank to outdo the Slovenian in a sprint on the line, taking the maglia rosa as he did so.
“I think this has probably been the best moment of the year so far [for Ineos Grenadiers], in terms of what they’ve had in terms of results, just the way Narvaez did that,” began Adam Blythe on Eurosport’s ‘The Breakaway’ show.
“I can’t remember the last time Pog [Pogacar] attacked and someone was able to follow.
“And it’s Narvaez that did it today, so hats off to him.”
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All the more impressive was Narvaez’s capability to stay with Pogacar in a final that appeared tailor-made to the Slovenian star, as Dan Lloyd picked up on.
“He had the advantage of saying, look my main GC leader Geraint Thomas is behind, I’m not going to work with you [Pogacar] to expand the lead over him,” Lloyd said.
“But he still had to keep up with Pogacar on a climb that suited the Slovenian down to the ground.
“When was the last time that anyone kept up with Pogacar? Certainly not this year. Any time he’s wanted to win this year, he pretty much has, except for Milano-Sanremo – it’s not steep enough.
“Today, he couldn’t get rid of Narvaez. He got rid of everybody else, he went through the breakaway or the riders that had been in front of the race at that point.
“But glued to his wheel was the Ecuadorian champion, sat in all the way to the finish and outsprinted him fairly comfortably.”
Narvaez’s Ineos team had a largely underwhelming start to the 2024 season as they continue to grapple with the dominance of the likes of Visma-Lease a Bike, Alpecin-Deceuninck and UAE Team-Emirates.
But have their performances in recent weeks hinted at better times ahead?
“There’s no doubt they [Ineos] have underperformed massively at the start of this season,” Lloyd added.
“[Tom] Pidcock winning the Amstel Gold Race, that was the turnaround point.
“A day later, Tobias Voss winning a stage of the Tour of the Alps, overall at the Tour of Romandie [through Carlos Rodriguez], first stage win and therefore the pink jersey here at the Giro.
“But at the start they went a long time before they had anything other than Narvaez winning the Ecuadorian National Championships.
“So they definitely underperformed up to the point where Pidcock won Amstel, that got the ball rolling and the ball’s rolling pretty quickly at this point.”
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