PEZ Race Report: The Ecuadorian powerhouse added a third Giro stage victory to his growing collection, following wins on stages 4 and 8 with another perfectly judged ride into Chiavari. After surviving a brutal breakaway battle and distancing nearly everyone on the final climbs, Narváez outsprinted Enric Mas in a two-man drag race to the line. Behind, the GC contenders kept their powder dry, leaving Afonso Eulálio safely in pink after another nervy day.
Stage 11 always looked tailor-made for opportunists. The opening 90 kilometers rolled by relatively flat, but what followed was a relentless succession of climbs: La Foce, Pignone, Passo del Termine (which Pez rode and wrote about here), then a savage finale over the Colle di Guaitarola, Colla del Scioli and the late kicker to San Bartolomeo—its summit coming just nine kilometers from the finish in Chiavari.
A perfect recipe for chaos.
Breakaway Madness From the Gun
From the flag drop in Porcari, riders attacked like they’d been released from a cage.
At one point a dangerous 15-man move escaped, featuring big names like Giulio Ciccone, Christian Scaroni, Koen Bouwman and Jasper Stuyven. But cooperation was shaky, the elastic snapped, and the peloton brought them back before another wave of attacks rolled clear.
Eventually, Chris Harper (pictured above), Mattia Bais and Andreas Leknessund pried open daylight, only to be joined by reinforcements including Stuyven, Tim Naberman, Edward Planckaert, Alberto Bettiol, Diego Ulissi, Nico Denz, Aleksandr Vlasov, Ludovico Crescioli and Markus Hoelgaard. Eleven riders were finally up the road—but the racing was far from settled.
The peloton refused to relax.
As the race hit the hill zone at La Foce, the break held less than a minute, triggering a major counterattack from Enric Mas and Lennert Van Eetvelt. After a long chase, they bridged across, followed by another dangerous wave featuring Filippo Zana, Warren Barguil, Alessandro Tonelli, Christian Scaroni—and double stage winner Jhonatan Narváez.
Suddenly, the move had teeth.
Crashes, Attacks and a Race Explodes
With the race hitting the Colle di Guaitarola, the expanded front group had stretched its advantage to nearly two minutes while Netcompany INEOS controlled the tempo behind, carefully managing the gap without fully committing to the chase.
Then the race detonated.
Ulissi launched an acceleration that fractured the front group, but the real damage came moments later when Lennert Van Eetvelt, Christian Scaroni and Filippo Zana crashed in the descent. The incident split the leaders and left Stuyven, Vlasov and Narváez among the front survivors heading toward the Colla del Scioli.
The regrouping behind was frantic.
Harper, Barguil, Mas, Ulissi and Crescioli clawed their way back, while the battered Scaroni somehow fought his way into contention again. But every time the elastic stretched, someone attacked.
Ulissi lit the fuse once more, Stuyven cracked, Crescioli yo-yo’d back, and the front group thinned to only the strongest legs.
Mas Goes Long – But Narváez Has the Answer
On the final climb to San Bartolomeo, Enric Mas finally played his card.
The Spaniard accelerated hard, immediately drawing Narváez onto his wheel while the rest hesitated just long enough to lose contact. Harper and Vlasov briefly fought their way back, but another sharp acceleration from Mas finally snapped the elastic for good.
Into the descent, Mas and Narváez held nearly 30 seconds over the chasers.
The pursuing group edged closer approaching Chiavari, but Mas—despite knowing Narváez was the faster finisher on paper—continued to collaborate, perhaps betting on fatigue evening the odds.
It didn’t.
Narváez opened the sprint from the front, but there was never much doubt. The Ecuadorian had another gear entirely, powering clear of Mas for a convincing third stage victory in this Giro d’Italia.
GC Riders Play Nice
Mas settled for second, while Diego Ulissi sprinted to third from the chase.
Behind the breakaway survivors—and late attackers Simone Gualdi and Andrea Raccagni Noviero—Wout Poels won the sprint from a surprisingly large peloton.
More importantly, the general classification contenders barely looked at one another.
No attacks. No time gaps. No fireworks.
That meant Afonso Eulálio’s grip on the maglia rosa remains secure heading deeper into the Giro, though tougher days still lie ahead.
For now, Stage 11 belonged to Narváez—and at this rate, the Ecuadorian may not be done winning yet.
QUOTES
Speaking seconds after the finish, the stage winner Jhonatan Narvaez said: “The whole stage was difficult, especially because we missed the first breakaway group, then we missed the second one too. After two hours of hard racing I tried to jump straight to the breakaway. It was difficult also and I realised that Enric Mas was the strongest in the climb. I knew I had to play my game. I defended myself up the hills. I got scared when he launched the sprint and almost blocked me to the barriers. I was on the limit because it was full gas the whole day. Even in the downhills we have raced hard!”
2026 Giro d’Italia Video Hilights
2026 Giro d’Italia Results
2026 Giro d’Italia Overall Results After Stage 11
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