2026 Giro d'Italia Stage 4 Results & Recap
Stage 4 of the 2026 Giro d'Italia is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Nothing went right for UAE Team Emirates XRG in the opening days of this race in Bulgaria, where they lost three riders in the stage 2 crash. Yet, the transfer to Italy brought a rapid change in the Emirati team's fortunes as Jhonatan Narváez (UAD) showed a clean pair of heels to the rest of the punchy finishers in a very reduced group sprint in Cosenza, the Ecuadorean's acceleration taking him two bike lengths clear of Orluis Aular (MOV), with Giulio Ciccone (LTK) in third.
The four bonus seconds that Ciccone picked up for that third place boosted him into the race leader's pink jersey, which came into play when Thomas Silva (XAT) was dropped on the cat 2 Cozzo Tunno that was the only climb of the day.
The short post-rest day stage began with a brief flurry of attacks that resulted in 6 riders going clear in the break – Martin Marcellusi (BCS), Mattia Bais (PTV), Darren Rafferty (EFE), Warren Barguil (TPP), Niklas Larsen (URR) and Johan Jacobs (GFC). They built up a lead of 2'30" before the peloton began to eat into their lead approaching the cat 2 climb.
Aular's Movistar teammates were already leading the way in the bunch and they continued to do so all of the way up the 14.5km climb. Thanks to their unrelenting tempo, the break was soon reeled in and the sprinters quickly shaken out of the bunch, followed by race leader Thomas Silva (XAT).
Only 35 riders remained in the front group at the top of the climb, Egan Bernal (IGD) among the final casulties of Movistar's pace, although the 2021 Giro winner did regain contact on the descent.
The Red Bull sprint was contested by most of the riders in with a shot of taking the leader's jersey. Jonas Vingegaard (TVL) led out the sprint for 6, 4 and 2 bonus seconds, but Jan Christen (UAD) burst by the Dane to take first place, ahead of Giulio Pellizzari (RBH) and Ciccone.
Coming into the finish, the very nippy Christen attacked with 1.5km remaining, but was reeled in as he reached the foot of the 500m drag up to the line. Attempting to crown the work his team had done to scatter the field, Aular led out the sprint with 200m remaining, but Narváez was quick to follow and shot by on the Venezuelan's left-hand side to take a clear victory, the third Giro stage win of his career.
Get our full coverage of the Giro d'Italia and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.
