Ecuadorian Ineos rider Jhonatan Narvaez won a ferocious struggle on the opening stage of the 2024 Giro d'Italia on Saturday to deny pre-race favorite Tadej Pogacar in the final sprint and snatch the overall leader's pink jersey.

Narvaez stayed on Pogacar's wheel and then surged clear in a three-way sprint after an eventful 140-kilometer stage to Turin, pipping Max Schachmann and Pogacar to the line.

Ineos team leader and Geraint Thomas came in 10th, 10 seconds adrift with other contenders Ben O'Connor, Damiano Caruso and Danny Martinez.

Fancied Frenchman Romain Bardet, however, dropped 57 seconds, which at this early stage, does not yet rule him out but is far from ideal.

Narvaez was delighted with the biggest win of his career.

"You don't get many chances like that," he said of taking the pink jersey.

After denying Pogacar an eighth win in just 11 days of competitive racing this year, Narvaez said the Slovenian had made a mistake.

"He launched his sprint too early," said Narvaez, who allowed Pogacar to do all the work in his bid to become the first man to win the Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998. "After a hard stage like that, he went from like 200 meters. I waited for the 100-meter mark." 

UAE rider Pogacar burst from the peloton with just 3 kilometers to go, but Narvaez clung to his back wheel and only overtook 50 meters from the line, with Pogacar crossing in third place.

This year's Giro has a punishing start with plenty of climbs over the first two stages, which immediately puts the main contenders for overall victory in the mix.

There were plenty of fireworks on the opening day, as big names Bardet and Ineos' Thymen Arensman were dropped off the back of the peloton on the Category 2 Maddalena Pass climb toward the end of the race.

A six-man break built a lead of just over two minutes with 70 kilometers remaining, and on the Superga climb, which was being raced on the 75th anniversary of an air disaster that killed the entire Torino football team, one of the greatest Italian club sides in history.

That gap was extended by a minute by the time Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier crossed the peak of Superga, after which Frenchman Lilian Calmejane joined the Eritrean on the descent.

The peloton, which had been led for most of the day by Pogacar's UAE teammates, chopped that gap by half, as they approached the Maddalena, a 7-kilometer climb with an average 7% gradient.

Frenchman Calmejane claimed the King of the Mountains jersey on that climb but was caught with 10 kilometers remaining.

With the peloton trailing, Pogacar made a run at the stage win, but he couldn't pull completely clear and didn't have the pace in the finale to hold off Narvaez.

Sunday's second stage is another big one for the general classification contenders, as 161 kilometers of racing climaxes with a Category 1 climb to Santuario di Oropa.