"I was scared" - Giro stage winner Jhonatan Narváez on Enric Mas battle in sprint finish claim

Giro d'Italia stage 11 winner Jhonatan Narváez took home his third stage win of the race after yet another stunning performance on Wednesday. The Ecuadorian champion bridged across to the day's decisive breakaway before he and Enric Mas came to the line for a sprint finish.

The 29-year-old, on paper with a faster finish than Spanish rival Mas, held on in the final 20 kilometers as Mas tried to shake him off on both the final climb and the technical downhill section but to little avail. Meanwhile, Narváez has implied that a move in the sprint from Mas almost put him into the finish barriers.

The stage looked out of UAE Team Emirates - XRG's reach after a strong breakaway of twelve riders gained over a minute on the peloton, but in hilly terrain before the Passo del Termine he broke away from the peloton - reaching the front of the race on the climb itself and ensuring he would be part of the contest for stage honours.

"All day," Narváez exhaled, when asked about the most difficult part of the stage in a post-race interview.

He continued: "When we started the meeting in the bus we had to champion [Ed. control] the breakaway because of our goal. We missed the first group, then we missed the second group. After two hours of a hard race I tried to jump to the breakaway, I think this was difficult."

"Enric Mas was the strongest in the climb, and I knew I had to play my game," he smiled, referring to the duo's battle as Mas attempted to drop Narváez in the last climb - while he waited for a sprint to the line.

He continued: "He's stronger than me in the climbs, but I was remembering a book I was reading. The book said 'if you don't have your game, just make your own game - you will not see a running Michael Phelps' He's only in the pool. I just tried to defend myself in the uphill".

The pair looked at each-other several times inside the final 5 kilometers, with Mas knowing Narváez was likely to have the edge in a sprint to the line.

However, with Chris Harper, Aleksandr Vlasov and Diego Ulissi just under 20 seconds behind, they kept the pace high through the streets of Chiavari as a sprint finish became the only option.

Inside the final kilometer, Narváez came through to lead the sprint. Mas opened up his sprint at 200 meters to try and get the jump on the Ecuadorian - who was close to the barriers - but it was Narvaez who responded dominantly to beat him in the sprint.

However, Narváez claimed he was scared by Mas' move in the final sprint as he was on the limit: "I was scared because when he did the sprint he almost tried to close me in the barriers, no? I was on the limit. All day was full gas. We don't just race in the uphills. We race in the downhills."