Cosenza (Italy) (AFP) - Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narvaez sprinted to victory in the fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia on Tuesday with Italian Giulio Ciccone taking the race lead.

Narvaez provided much-needed relief to UAE Team Emirates which has been decimated since the start of the race.

The 29-year-old beat a peloton from which all the main sprinters had been dropped on the long climb of Cozzo Tunno, halfway through the 138km stage that finished in Cosenza, in Calabria.

UAE had lost three riders in a pile-up on Saturday with British rider Adam Yates retiring with concussion while Marc Soler fractured his pelvis and Jay Vine broke his elbow.

“I’m really glad I could deliver this victory,” added Narvaez.

“In the finale I took the corner at 700m to go in a really good position and then it was just all about the legs in the sprint.”

Two years after Tadej Pogacar’s Giro triumph the team’s focus now is on winning stages with the Slovenian not competing in this edition.

“This victory means a lot for me,” said Narvaez, himself on the comeback trail after fracturing vertabrae in a crash in the Tour Down Under in January.

“Obviously I would also like to dedicate this to my teammates who crashed on stage 2 and are no longer here in the race. I wish them a good recovery.”

Swiss teammate Jan Christen made a late break in the closing kilometres and moved into the maglia bianca as best young rider and second overall.

- Infernal pace -

On Tuesday, the main sprinters including Egan Bernal suffered under the infernal pace.

Arnaud De Lie, who would later abandon the race, along with Kaden Groves early in the stage, was the first to be dropped, along with the muscular Dylan Groenewegen.

Then it was the turn of Jonathan Milan, Paul Magnier, and finally Tobias Lund Andresen to lose ground, as well as the pink jersey wearer Uruguayan Thomas Silva who cracked on the 14-kilometre climb.

Silva relinquished the pink jersey to Lidl-Trek rider Ciccone, who finished third on the day, on the first stage in Italy after three days in Bulgaria.

Ciccone leads Christen by four seconds in the overall standings.

For Ciccone it was a childhood dream come true.

The 31-year-old Italian wore the leader’s yellow jersey on the 2019 Tour de France for two days but never the pink jersey at home.

“The feeling is amazing,” he said.

“I always dreamed of this jersey since I was a kid. I started this sport dreaming of it, and today I realised my dream.

“Especially like this, I was not expecting it today, after many hard moments especially last year with the crash, to this year and wearing the pink jersey is really crazy.”

On Wednesday, the hilly fifth stage will take the peloton from Praia a Mare to Potenza.