“Mas didn’t even really close the gap” - Analyst amused as Enric Mas becomes Movistar’s unlikely lead-out man in chaotic Giro d’Italia finale

Movistar Team spent much of stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia riding as if the day had been built around them. By the finish in Cosenza, however, the Spanish team had done almost everything except win.

Their aggressive work on the Cozzo Tunno had blown the race apart, ended Guillermo Thomas Silva’s spell in the Maglia Rosa group, distanced several sprinters and briefly put Egan Bernal under pressure.

Yet when the reduced bunch reached the technical finale, it was Jhonatan Narvaez who delivered victory for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, while Orluis Aular had to settle for second after being launched earlier than ideal.

Speaking on the In Het Wiel podcast, analyst Roxane Knetemann saw the funny side of a finale in which Movistar’s GC leader Enric Mas was suddenly left trying to help finish off the team’s sprint plan.

Movistar’s move on the Cozzo Tunno was one of the defining moments of the stage. The climb was the only categorised ascent of the day, but the Spanish team used it to turn a potentially reduced sprint into a much harder selection.

The pace quickly removed many of the fast men from contention. Dylan Groenewegen, Jonathan Milan, Paul Magnier and Tobias Lund Andresen were among those put under pressure or distanced, while Silva also lost contact and eventually surrendered the Maglia Rosa to Giulio Ciccone.

For Movistar, the logic was clear. Aular had survived the climb well and still had team-mates around him, giving the team a route to a stage win after doing so much of the damage. But the final kilometres were far from simple, with a twisting run-in and a late attack from Jan Christen disrupting the chase. “If you have to win the war with this, on this finish...” Knetemann said, laughing as she assessed Movistar’s position after the finish.

She acknowledged that Movistar had at least taken responsibility for the race. “Then from that little climb, which really was a horrible climb. It looked easier in the road book when I looked at it,” she said.

The decisive complication came when Christen launched inside the final two kilometres. The UAE rider did not make it to the line, but his attack forced Movistar to react at precisely the moment they needed order around Aular.

Knetemann felt the move created the confusion that ultimately hurt the Spanish team’s finishing plan. “But as Movistar you are basically bringing the whole race into pieces from that climb,” she said. “And then you have to win the war in a corner-heavy finale, with Mas,” she added, laughing.

After Christen was reeled in, Aular was left exposed too soon. He opened his sprint, but the effort proved too long, and Narvaez came through to take the stage win. “He had to a little bit,” Knetemann said of Aular’s early launch.

In her view, the key mistake came in the chase behind Christen. “Mas didn’t even really close the gap. That was Sobrero, from Lidl. Actually, he should have been in Ciccone’s position,” she said. Ciccone finished third on the stage, a result that helped him move into the Maglia Rosa after Silva had been dropped earlier in the day.

While Movistar were left to rue a missed opportunity, UAE were the team that turned chaos into reward. Christen’s attack helped soften and disrupt the finale, before Narvaez finished the job in the sprint.

Knetemann was full of praise for Christen’s instinctive move, which came after he had appeared quiet in the group. “Actually, his attack was such a super cool surprise attack,” she said. “Really one of those you always hope for, especially with a corner-heavy finish like today. He was hanging at the back the whole time, and you thought: mate, what are you actually going to do?”

The answer was to attack. For Knetemann, that was very much in keeping with Christen’s style. “I didn’t expect his acceleration... actually I did, didn’t I. This is a bit typical Christen, what he did today. He came flying past Mas, I think,” she concluded.

For Movistar, stage 4 was a day of bold tactics, brutal climbing pressure and a finale that slipped away. For UAE, still rebuilding after losing Adam Yates, Jay Vine and Marc Soler from the race, it was a very different story. Narvaez gave them the win, Christen came close to pink, and Movistar were left with the question of how such a dominant plan ended without the victory.