Italian rider Ciccone seizes the Giro lead as Thomas Silva cracks and Narváez wins stage 4

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COSENZA, Italy (AP) — Italian rider Giulio Ciccone moved into the overall lead of the Giro d’Italia as this year's race moved into his home country for the first time, and Jhonatan Narváez won the fourth stage on Tuesday.

Guillermo Thomas Silva, the first Uruguayan to win a Giro stage and to don the pink jersey, had been in the lead as the race resumed in Italy following a rest day after the opening three stages in Bulgaria.

But Thomas Silva cracked halfway up the lengthy, second-category climb in the latter half of the stage and eventually finished more than 10 minutes off the pace.

Ciccone was fighting for the stage win but was outsprinted by Narváez, with Orluis Aular second at the end of the 138-kilometer route from Catanzaro, in the foot of Italy, to Cosenza.

The four bonus seconds Ciccone picked up for finishing third was enough to lift him into the overall lead of the Giro, four seconds ahead of Jan Christen, Florian Stork and Egan Bernal.

Wednesday’s fifth stage could shake up the general classification standings. It features nearly 4,000 meters of climbing and hardly any flat sections on the 203-kilometer route from Praia a Mare to Potenza.

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 as the defending champion.

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