Somewhere in between bus transfers and recovery massages, Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-step) and Jhonathan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates XRG) have clearly been brushing up on their Shakespeare. “What’s in a name?” wrote the bard in his famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet around 400 years ago, and the story being penned by these two riders in the battle for the maglia ciclamino seems to be asking the same question.

Let’s start at the beginning. The maglia ciclamino: what’s in the name? For the unversed, it’s the jersey for the Giro d’Italia’s points classification, sported by the rider, who, er, gets the most points. Sounds simple, and for the most part, it is. Flat stages are more heavily weighted than summit finishes, and riders can also gain points on intermediate sprints. This means that it typically goes to sprinter-types, or at least has done for the last 12 years since Spanish climber Joaquim Rodríguez claimed top spot in 2012. The most confusing thing in all of this is probably that ‘ciclamino’ translates to ‘cyclamen’, which is a dark pinkish colour, and definitely NOT purple. More often than not, it’s the burlier frames of the peloton – the likes of Mark Cavendish, Alessandro Petacchi, Mario Cipollini, and Jonathan Milan in the past –  who suit it best. Magnier's fast finishes in Bulgaria set the stage for history repeating itself. 

 The young Frenchman prevailed on stages 1 and 3 in Bulgaria (Image credit: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)

Two-and-a-half weeks later, however, the identity of the maglia ciclamino is at stake, with star sprinter Magnier up against the man of the moment Jonathan Narváez, a punchy breakaway specialist who thrives when the road goes up. Purists will be watching through fingers as a non-sprinter (although he is pretty handy from a reduced bunch) hoovers up points like there’s no tomorrow on a Giro course which has left the pure fastmen wanting. One of whom, of course, is Magnier, who probably punched a few pillows upon reviewing Muro di Cà del Poggio’s 19 % gradient on Thursday’s ‘sprint’ stage. Soudal Quick-Step sports director Geert Van Bondt said as much to the media, who, when asked whether it could be an opportunity for Magnier, answered with a telling harrumph:

“No. No it isn’t,” he said bluntly. “It’s not an easy stage at the beginning, there’s going to be a lot of attacks, and then the final climb – I don’t think it’s a 50 point stage. But, yeah, it’s the organisation that makes the decision. We have our vision on Narváez, and we have to block him a little bit, and they will do the same with us. It’s the game we have to play at the moment.” 

There’s much at stake for the French phenom, especially after Narváez managed to bag another 12 points by claiming the intermediate sprint on stage 17. Not a win, of course, but a watershed advantage nonetheless, and the scores are on the doors to show it: 157 to Narváez, 145 to Magnier. There are currently four 12-point intermediate sprints left, and two fifty-point ‘sprint’ stages up for grabs. 

Let’s face it, Magnier will not get over the Muro di Cà before Narváez. Yes, he may have begun his cycling life as a climber, but he’s put on around 15 kegs since then, and while he fares better over lumpier terrain than the likes of Milan and Dylan Groenewegen, there’s little evidence from this year’s Giro to suggest he won’t get dropped. Yes, we can complain about the nature of the course being unfair on the sprinters and tarnishing the good old traditional ciclamino identity, but there’s another point to be made: if a sprinter had won all the stages that were on offer to them (which, to be fair to Magnier, he actually did when he took stages 1 and 3), then they would probably be skipping off into a purple-hued sunset, and we wouldn’t be having this debate. Crashes marred the opportunities that followed, but stage 15 to Milan was their chance. Somehow, on a plan-flat route destined for a bunch-sprint finale, they blew it by letting the breakaway get away – and Magnier, who finished first from the chasing peloton, is now feeling the effects.  

What’s Narváez saying in all of this? The Ecuadorian's three stage wins so far are more than enough evidence that he can win tomorrow, and with the worst of the Dolomites still to come, he’ll be fighting in the breakaway for points at every opportunity while Magnier does his best to hang on. 

If the race organisers wanted a battle, they’ve certainly got one – and with Jonas Vingegaard’s maglia rosa lead pretty much set, the drama is happening elsewhere. Settle in sports fans, because we’ve got a Shakespearean masterclass in storytelling coming our way. The writing is on the wall: Magnier must win in Rome.