CHIAVARI, Italy (AP) — Jhonatan Narváez became the most successful Ecuadorian stage winner at the Giro d’Italia when the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider triumphed on Wednesday, while Afonso Eulálio remained in the overall lead.

Narváez’s victory on stage 11 was his third at this year’s race and fifth overall in the Giro, surpassing 2019 champion Richard Carapaz.

Narváez edged out Enric Mas at the end of the 195-kilometer (121-mile) route from Porcari to Chiavari that featured three categorized climbs. Diego Ulissi was third, leading the remnants of the breakaway across the line, 11 seconds behind.

“All day, all day,” Narváez responded with a smile when asked what was the most difficult part of the stage. “It was a tough stage, especially because we missed the first breakaway and then the second one as well. After two hours of hard racing, I tried to bridge across directly to the front of the race.

“I managed to hold on in the climbs, because I realized Enric was the strongest. I was at my limit because we went full gas all day, but I managed to pull it off once again.”

Narváez and Mas hadn’t got in the initial breakaway but managed to make it across before the climbs. They then attacked on the final ascent, which was steep but uncategorized, and worked well together on the descent before opening up the sprint 200 meters from the line.

The peloton rolled across the line more than three minutes behind Narváez, with Eulálio preserving his 27-second advantage over Jonas Vingegaard.

Thymen Arensman is third overall, 1:57 behind Eulálio.

Thursday’s 12th stage is a 175-kilometer (109-mile) route from Imperia to Novi Ligure that is mainly flat along the coast before heading inland and over two lower-category climbs.

The 109th men’s Giro ends on May 31 in Rome.

The women’s Giro runs from May 30-June 7 with Italian rider Elisa Longo Borghini the defending champion.

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AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling