As It happened: The win goes to the breakaway on punchy Tappe dei Muri stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia
A challenging day in the Marche hills concludes with an 8% finishing climb in Fermo
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia!
On the menu today is 155km in the Marche region from Chieti to Fermo. It's a fairly simple roll out, but then a challenging 55km, with four climbs and a hilltop finish in Fermo.
If you're after a closer look at the stage today, here's our full preview with details of all the climbs and sprints.
And don't forget to vote on what you think is going to happen in the poll above!
Yesterday was a pivotal game-changer in the race for the Pink Jersey, a first real sort-out in the GC and true revelation of who of the pre-race contenders are going best, and in the race for the podium. We’ll be reflecting on what happened throughout the stage today, but first have a read of our extensive analysis.
The riders have assembled in Chieti, and the unofficial start is set for 13:15 CET, in about a quarter of an hour.
The sky is blue and the weather warm, for what should be a pleasant day in the saddle - at least until the climbing starts deeper into the stage.
That said, the parcours today looks very good for the chance of a breakaway succeeding, with lots of riders now far enough down on GC to be allowed up the road by the few still left in GC contention, and climbs ranked category three and four that might suit puncheurs rather than pure climbers. Therefore there could be an intense, exhausting battle to get into the break at the start - brace yourself!
The crowds cheer the riders rollout from the neutralised start. Travelling through the narrow streets of Chieti.
Afonso Eulalio remains in pink today, albeit with his advantage slashed to 3:17 following the Blockhaus summit finish. The climbs today will be more in his wheelhouse, and he'll be confident of retaining the lead.
Eulalio didn't commit to expressing what he felt his chances of keeping hold of the pink jersey are. "We need to fight, and we need to try to keep the jersey, and we will fight til the rest day for sure," he said after yesterday's stage.
Riders are swarming around the race car as they await the flag.
6 riders have a gap, many more chasing behind.
Bettiol is in this lead group.
Also with Bettiol: M. Bais, Gualdi, Busatto, Ivan Garcia and Turconi.
There's a group of about 12 trying to join them.
EF's Cepeda is among those in the chase group.
As is Hirt, who might be seen as a GC threat, ranked 12th in the GC.
The chase group is back in the peloton, which is all drawn out.
Bettiol has attacked again, this time with Ganna. That's two big names, who might fancy their chances on the kind of punchy climbs to come later.
Ciccone is among those trying to join them, but surely he needed to lose more time yesterday if he wanted to target the breaks? As things stand he remains a danger, in 8th at 4:57.
For now Ganna and Bettiol lead, and the rest of the riders are all back together.
Milan tries an attack, perhaps seeking more points in the intermediate sprint, as he did yesterday. This time, Magnier is alert to the danger, and marks him.
The weather’s taken a turn - there’s some rain in the air.
Milan tries another attack! He's not giving up his Maglia Ciclamino title without a fight., despite having such a rough start to this Giro.
Magnier has marked Milan again, and another set of riders are trying an attack.
Up ahead, Ganna and Bettiol have 25 seconds on the peloton.
Netcompany Ineos are trying to bounce back from yesterday's stage, when Arensman and especially Bernal lost ground on their rivals. Ganna is already up the road, and Sheffield has taken off alone to try and join him.
Hindley needs a bike change.
Ganna and Bettiol up the road. Ganna had to slow down a few moments ago as Bettiol couldn't follow his wheel - a problem many have had following Ganna over the years.
Hindley is back in the peloton.
Still the attacks come in the peloton behind, but still no-one is able to go clear.
Ciccone tries a big move on a short uphill section, the last of its kind before the road flattens out for a while. But he hasn't broken the elastic.
A group of 9 pursuers has formed and got a small gap over the peloton.
Jhonatan Narváez is in that group, surely a big danger for the stage win on a day like this.
That chase group has been caught.
Still Milan hasn't given up. He's right towards the front of the peloton, sniffing for an opportunity to jump clear.
Crash right at the front of the peloton, after a touch of wheels. Just one rider down - a Pinarello rider.
Fabio Christen was the rider to go down, and by the looks of things it may well be a broken collarbone.
Away from the Giro, the second stage of Itzulia Women has just finished - find out what happened in our report here.
Still Ganna and Bettiol lead by less than 30 seconds, and still the war rages behind them.
Milan is actually leading the peloton, but Magnier is glued to his wheel, not giving him an inch.
Milan is not a rider used to failing to win the points classification - in fact, he’s won it in all three of his previous Grand Tour appearances.
Now we have a chase group, albeit a small one with a very slender lead. The Alpecin duo of Plowright and Bayer are in it, with Bettiol's teammate Ulissi.
The Alpecin riders are doing all the work, Ulissi sitting on their wheels.
That trio has also been brought back.
A new group of about 6 has formed, including another Alpecin rider.
They look like they're about to be caught, and Ganna and Bettiol are now also only hanging on by a thread, their lead down to under 10 seconds.
Bettiol and Ganna have been caught. Over 50km into the stage, and everything is back together!
So we begin again. A new group of four attacks.
Ganna and Bettiol must be seething. They were out there riding hard with their noses to the wind for an hour, all to no avail.
The 4-man group is caught, and now Cavagna tries an attack.
The heavens haven't opened, but it’s cold and must have done here earlier as the roads they're riding through now are wet. Arrieta is making a meal of putting a gilet on.
A larger group of 13 tried its luck, but also has been caught.
Andreas Leknessund attacks and has a bigger gap already than anyone has managed for a while.
Leknessund might have got a gap, but isn't keen to burn so much energy working alone. He's slowed down to allow a small chase group to catch him.
Rather that was the peloton rather than a chase group that absorbed Leknessund - so it's Gruppo Compatto once more.
This fight to get into the break has gone on for so long that they’re only about 25km away from the start of the first climb.
A group of 8 is the latest to get a gap, and looks more promising...
Here goes Ganna again! He's trying to bridge up to the 8 leaders.
Ganna's dragged the pelolton back to within a few seconds, but is done at the front.
The leading 8 riders are: Valgren, Bjerg, Ulissi, Bayer, Gualdi, Hoelgaard, Crescioli and Marcellusi.
That grop has been caught, but Bjerg has gone again and his UAE teammate Jhonatan Narváez has gone with him.
There's been a split in the peloton.
Vingegaard is caught out in the second group!
The pink jersey is in the front group.
Gall and O'Connor are also in the Vingegaard group.
Meanwhile ahead, Leknessund is with Bjerg and Narváez.
There are about 40 riders in the front peloton, including the pink jersey and Hindley.
70KM TO GO
Bjerg, Narváez and Leknessund lead the pink jersey peloton by about 20 seconds, while the second peloton is being plled along by Visma-Lease a Bike close behind.
The pelotons are back together, Visma undoing the split.
Three riders managed to jump clear before the pelotons came together, and are chasing down the three leaders. They are Kopecky, Busatto, and yet another UAE rider, Jan Christen.
It seems Stewart has left the race due to ongoing issues with his knee, rather than a specific incident today.
The counter-attacking trio featuring Jan Christen has been caught by the peloton.
Things are looking promising for the leading duo. Their advantage of 50 seconds is the highest anyone has managed all day up to this point.
We're also only 5km away from an intermediate sprint, so expect to see Milan and Magnier remerge at the front of the peloton again soon.
Still the attacks come! A group of about 20 has jumped clear of the peloton and are chasing down the three leaders.
At the intermediate sprint, Leknessund takes the points in the break uncontested.
This chase group seems to be devoid of any big GC threats. Arrieta looks like the highest in the rankings, at 6:11.
This might be it! The peloton has slowed and the gaps are growing.
The problem is, the climbing is about to begin, before the breaks have had a chance to build a lead.
The leading trio, as they first jumped clear earlier.
The pace is back up in the peloton on this climb, and the attacks are being fired off again.
The chase group is also breaking up on this climb.
A large group of about 30 has formed, made up of riders dropped from the previous 20-man chase group, and those who have attacked out of the peloton on this climb.
It's all got quite messy out there! But we basically have a leading trio of Narváez, Bjerg and Leknessund at the front, followed by a group of about 30, and then the peloton.
They've still got about 3km left to climb. This one totals 9.9km, albeit at just 3.6%.
There isn't much cohesion in the massive chase group, and Mifsud has attacked out of it.
Attack by Ciccone - and the pink jersey does not want to let him go! Afonso Eulálio latches onto his wheel and shuts it down, and theyre both back in the peloton.
As they near the top of the climb, Narváez/Bjerg/Leknessund are a minute up on the chase group, and 1:20 up on the peloton.
It's slowed in the peloton. Visma are at the front spread out, signalling they don't want any more attacks to be made.
There’s barely been a moment to breathe during such a hectic stage! But be sure to have a read of what Jonas Vingegaard had to say after taking control of the GC race on Blockhaus yesterday.
Having a look through all the riders in the chase group, there are some fast punchy sprinters present - notably Ben Turner and Corbin Strong.
This parcours might prove to be too selective for them. Instead, puncheurs Jan Christen and Christian Scaroni stand out.
Javier Romo ans stage winner Igor Arrieta are also threats in this group.
For now, though, altough the peloton has sat up, this group is still 50 adrift from the three leaders.
And they’re not working well together. Garofoli attacks, and the riders look at each other rather than chase.
The chase group, the make-up of which has since changed.
Some more riders have attacked out of the chase group in pursuit of Garofoli.
Cepeda, Romo, Kulset, Misfud, Rochas and Milesi are together trying to catch Garofoli.
They're on the Monterubbiano climb, which rises at 5.7% for 4.7km.
The Cepeda group keeps getting bigger as more riders join up to them.
KOM - MONTERUBBIANO
Again the three leaders don't sprint for the KOM points at the summit, Narváez this time taking them from Bjerg and Leknessund.
Behind, the chase group reach the top about a minute later, having reformed and grown to over 30 riders once again.
The peloton, being led steadily by Bahrain in defence of the pink jersey.
Romo has attacked out of the chase group.
It does seem as though this will be a stage for the breakaway. The peloton has eased and allowed the leading trio 3:30, and the chase group about 2:30.
Visma take control of the peloton on the descent, keeping Vingegaard safe. It's not raining and the roads look dry.
30KM TO GO
Narváez, Bjerg and Leknessund lead Romo by 50 seconds as they're abot to start the third climb, with the chase group close behind, and the peloton at 3:30.
It appears the large chase group is going backwards. They're not working together, and losing ground to Romo.
The riders are currently ascending an uncategorised climb, with the Red Bull kilometre coming up soon.
As things stand, it's still looking very good for the three riders out front. There's still no riders within 50 seconds of them, and the chase group is too big to work as an effective, coherent force.
With two teammates against one adversary, UAE are in another strong position to take what would be a third stage win. You'd imagine Narváez is the better of the two on such terrain - how will Leknessund ride against them?
This climb might be uncategorised, but it's a steep stretch of road the leaders are currently hauling themselves up.
Bjerg leads them through the Red Bull Kilometre - none of them are interested in the bonus seconds on offer.
Bedhind, there's been a few splits in the chase group on the steep section.
The Bahrain-led peloton reach the Red Bull Kilometre 3:30 after the leaders, happy to led the break contest for the stage win.
20KM TO GO
As for Romo, he's 55 seconds down, and the chase group about 1:20. The advantage is still firmly with Narváez, Bjerg and Leknessund.
Fabio Van den Bossche attacks out of the chase group.
The leaders are increasing their advantage. Romo is now 1:15 behind. It seems increasingly likely that the stage will be won by one of these three riders
Afonso Eulalio, safely in the peloton, about to secure another day in pink.
Here we go, the leaders are about to start the penultimate climb. With only a very short descent between this one and the last climb, it's almost all uphill from now until the finish.
The first climb is Capodarco, which rises at 6.1% for 2.5km, followed by Fermo, which is 3.7km at 5.7%, but featuring some seriously steep gradients.
The UAE riders are trying to work over Leknessund as they appraoch the climb.
10KM TO GO
But it's Bjerg who's been dropped. That leaves Narváez at the front with Leknessund, the chase group a distant two minutes.
Narváez has a gap - this could be the stage...
The three leaders, before they were broken up.
Narváez has 11 seconds on Leknessund, 500m from the top.
Narváez increases his lead as the gradient ramps up, to 18 seconds.
Leknessund isn't giving up, but this is a tall order.
Meanwhile we'll keep an eye on the peloton, where these steep walls might encourage some GC action.
Narváez starts the final climb, with Leknessund making up some ground on him. He's now 13 seconds behind - this isn't over!
Narváez is growing the lead again on the climb, but the really steep bit is yet to come. The gradients here reach over 20% at one point.
3km to go, the gap between the two is 19 seconds.
The gap is growing to 23 seconds.
The road plateaus, but there's another ramp coming before the finish.
20 seconds for Narváez, 1500m from the finish.
Back in the peloton, Kuss is controlling the peloton for Visma.
Narváez is growing his lead on this steep, narrow run-in. The stage is surely his.
He's started to celebrate already.
Leknessund takes second, over 30 seconds behind.
Tjotta comes home for third, the strongest of those in the chase group.
Back in the peloton, Eulalio hasn't gone clear, and now Hindley is attacking.
Hindley crosses the line with Vingegaard on his wheel, and a small gap back to the following rider. Its up to the judges to determine whether that's enough for a time gap.
The gap between Hindley and Vigegaard to the rest of the GC riders is being given as two seconds.
That’s another terrific win for Jhonatan Narváez, who loves the Giro d’Italia. This is his second win here this year, and fourth of his career. On a punchy parcours like today, and when freed from domestique duties, few in the world can match him.
That's also another great win for UAE, who now have as many stage wins at this race (3) as riders they lost on the stage two crash. They’ve bounced back admirably from that setback, and who’s to say how many more they can win between now and Rome?
Chapeau to Andreas Leknessund for bringing the fight to Narváez. He might have missed out on the win today, but the form is clearly there for him to take a career first Grand Tour stage later at this Giro.
As for the GC, there is one change in the top ten as Scaroni, having got into the break, leaps from 11th to 4th overall. As a puncheur, however, he's surely more interested in chasing stage wins than a high GC place.
Eulálio defended the pink jersey on the front foot today, attacking on the final punchy climb, terrain that suits him much better than the longer, higher mountains. He might not have increased his lead, but shows he’s feeling good and remains well up for the fight to cling hold of the jersey for as long as possible - which at this rate, might be for a while longer yet.
There’s been a change in the points classification, where Narváez’s second stage win is enough to see him leapfrog Milan into second place. For all his efforts to get into the break and steal a march on leader Magnier early in the stage, the Maglia Ciclamino is looking pretty distant for the Italian for now.
Thanks for joining us today, for another Jhonatan Narváez stage win at the Giro.
Tomorrow, the serenity of the final climb will likely bring the GC riders back to the fore, while Afonso Eulálio faces a battle to hold on to the Maglia Rosa. Will Jonas Vingegaard storm to another victory? Can Feli Gall or someone else take the fight to him? Or will this be another day for the breakaway? Be sure to follow us again to find out!
