Saturday’s eighth stage of the 109th Giro d’Italia didn’t rhumba along to the usual rhythms, as it took half the day for a breakaway to stick, and the route saw relentless attacking. An intrepid trio of fugitives held off a large chase over several climbs and Jhonatan Narvaez claimed his second stage victory in Fermo. It’s Narvaez’s fourth career Giro win and UAE-Emirates’ third victory of the 109th edition. Derek Gee-West was top Canadian in 40th.
Preliminaries
Despite Jonas Vingegaard’s first Giro stage win, he was still behind Afonso Eulálio for pink. Gee-West’s eighth place on Blockhaus moved him up 15 spots on GC to 13th.
The Course
On Saturday several Cat. 3 and 4 climbs were packed into the final third of 156 km. The Cat. 4 ascent to Fermi concluded the day, but a challenging 770-metre, 13.5-km wall preceded it.
By the midway point, many breakaways had tried but not stuck. Things got weird when a trio containing two UAE-Emirates dashed away, and the peloton split, with Vingegaard in the second part. After this fracture was mended, a group of 20 tried to bridge to the trio before the day’s intermediate sprint. On Cat. 3 Montefiore d’Aso moves flared off from the pink jersey group looking to join the chase, swelling to nearly 40 fellows.
Hard on Montefiore d’Aso’s heels was Cat. 4 Monterubbiano. The trio was still clear of the chase and the chase was distancing the pink jersey peloton.
On Cat. 4 Capodarco, Narvaez bolted. Andreas Leknessund tried to reestablish contact before the nasty “wall”. What a slow motion clamber! There was more climbing to come. The wall fragmented the pink jersey group but Gee-West was still there. Narvaez ground his way up the narrow, cobbled ascent to the line.
A Cat. 1 summit finish should determine Sunday’s stage winner.
2026 Giro d’Italia, Stage 8
1) Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecuador/UAE-Emirates) 3:27:26
2) Andreas Leknessund (Norway/Uno-X) +0:32
3) Martin Tjøtta (Norway/Uno-X) +0:42
40) Derek Gee-West (Canada/Lidl-Trek) +1:53
2026 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Afonso Eulálio (Portugal/Bahrain-Victorious) 34:28:42
2) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma-Lease a Bike) +3:15
3) Felix Gall (Austria/Decathlon-CMA-CGM) +3:34
14) Derek Gee West (Canada/Lidl-Trek) +6:10
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