Cycling-Ecuador's Narvaez solos to win on Giro's 12th stage

Narvaez, 23, kept the power down to extend his advantage in the closing kilometres, winning by almost a minute. It was a day of consolidation for Portugal's Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quickstep) who retained the leader's pink jersey, preserving his 34-second lead over Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb).

Ecuador's Jhonatan Narvaez soloed his way to victory on a rain-drenched 12th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Thursday to give Ineos Grenadiers their third win in this year's race. On a day in which the weather conditions dampened the hoped-for fireworks in the GC battle over five categorised climbs, Narvaez and Ukraine's Mark Padun (Bahrain McLaren) battled it out after escaping from a 14-man lead group.

But Padun suffered a puncture with little more than 20km of the 204km stage from Cesenatico to Cesenatico remaining and despite valiantly chasing down Narvaez he ran out of legs. Narvaez, 23, kept the power down to extend his advantage in the closing kilometres, winning by almost a minute.

It was a day of consolidation for Portugal's Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quickstep) who retained the leader's pink jersey, preserving his 34-second lead over Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb).

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