Who is Jhonatan Narváez, the surprise who wore pink for nine days?
Three stage wins, nine days in the maglia rosa, and only overtaken by Jonas Vingegaard on the Pila climb. The story of 2026's Giro surprise.
A late attack that changed everything
On stage 4, while the sprint teams were still recovering from the long transfer out of Bulgaria, Jhonatan Narváez struck with a late attack in Cosenza. Stage win and maglia rosa in one move — the start of a story that would run through the entire Giro.
Three stage wins and nine days in pink
Narváez confirmed his form with two more stage wins, in Fermo and Chiavari, and kept the maglia rosa through the first mountain stage to the Blockhaus and the long time trial into Massa — an achievement nobody had predicted.
The fairytale ends at Pila
Only on stage 14, the first genuine Alpine climb to Pila, did Narváez have to hand over pink to Jonas Vingegaard. Nine days as leader, three stage wins and a place in this Giro's memory: not bad for a rider almost nobody had listed among the GC favourites.
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