They came tremendously close to their first stage win on Friday with Juanjo Lobato's second place in Fiuggi and Saturday finally brought the Movistar Team another prize to add to their permanent love story with the Giro d'Italia, thanks to Beñat Intxausti, The Basque rider rose his arms in Campitello Matese to crown a really hard break from the very start of the 186km stage eight, the first real mountains of this edition.

A group of almost fifty riders leaving the peloton left room to a more serious attack of twelve men, which was broken into two within a minute's distance. In the second one, Intxausti continued taking turns to keep the break's chances alive, the bunch letting them go to more than eight minutes before being closer to less than 5' at the foot of the ascent (-13km) and dramatically approaching with the final attacks by Fabio Aru (AST), bravely resisted by a brilliant Ion Izagirre (11th), Visconti (12th) and Amador (13th) - the latter two still in the GC's top ten, 7th and 10th respectively.

Intxausti broke the pursuit group together with Switzerland's Sébastien Reichenbach (IAM) and profited from Steven Kruijswijk's (TLJ) fading at the front to take the lead and later attack his break companion with 3.5km to go. A supreme effort, with all race favourites just behind, led him to a solo victory dedicated to the late Xavi Tondo. Intxausti's win is the Movistar Team's 11th in the 'Corsa Rosa' since Telefónica took over as title sponsor. He also wears the 'maglia azzurra' as King of the Mountains as of today's stag.

“For me, the most important thing in this Giro was winning stages, but I had that hope inside to fight for the GC, going day-by-day," he said. "Unfortunately, that was all ruined during the stage to La Spezia, and we started focusing purely on the stage wins. Happily, it all went well today.

"We knew the breakaway would stand a chance and that was visible at the start of the stage: we rode incredibly fast on a hard terrain, always up and down, and the peloton got whittled down to only 50 riders. When we started the first long climb (Forca d'Acero), a ten-man group where I was got a gap and Tinkoff didn't have as many riders to control. It was a good break for us, but there were some serious rivals and we were doubtful if we could make it to the finish, also because there were some riders who could win time for the overall classification.

"We knew our gaps at all times, both the ones to Kruijswijk and Betancur and the ones to the peloton behind, with the Astana riders pushing hard. We were thinking about where we should attack, and how to get rid of our rivals. I saw Reichenbach was riding strong from the foot of Campitello, since he was the only one who could follow me when I first attacked. He started to take less turns at the front and I changed my initial strategy: ride on his wheel and let him take bigger responsibility. With 4.5k to go, I saw he was struggling a bit and decided to jump away, because the GC riders were approaching really fast. They got close, but I gave everything I had until the finish.

"Today was a good day for the breakaway group to stay away. It was really hard to get into the breakaway but my legs were good all day. On the final climb, I always had the gaps. I knew that Kruiswijk was good, but I also knew that he would be tired after being at the front, burning more energy than me. And with five km to go, when the Maglia Rosa group was just over a minute behind, it was also dangerous. So when I saw the opportunity to go the finish, I went for it. I rode the last 4km at 100%. With 300-350m to go, I was able to savour the win.

"Both wins are beautiful, but this one is a double victory, first, finishing alone at altitude, and then, the mountain jersey, which I like," he added referring to his stage win in 2013.

"I think the team did things perfectly up to this point of the race, even without a victory. Already in La Spezia, with Visconti and Amador; yesterday, with Lobato coming close; and today, practically the same - but the difference was that we won. T

"Taking a stage in such an important event as the Giro is always difficult. We've already got it, which makes us calm for the rest of the Giro, but the guys are doing really well and I'm sure we'll get at least one more before the end of the race. This one is a tribute to Xavi Tondo and my late grandpa, always looking after us from high above; my team, my family, friends and girlfriend. It's all easier thanks to them.

"Now we're going day by day. I've got another personal goal I really like: the KOM jersey. I got the lead today and it'd be beautiful to snatch it at the end of the race. I'm conscious this will cost a lot of energy, all the way to Milan. There's still a long race ahead.

"I lead the mountains competition now. I didn't realise it, but when they said, it was a special emotion. It's a big motivation, to win the mountains competition in a Grand Tour. It's hard to win the jersey, because there are two weeks, lots of climbs, and the favourites have the advantage because they are fighting every day for the mountain finishes. And going for the jersey can take away opportunities for stage wins. But it's a goal, I'm ambitious, and I'll fight day by day. It won't be easy, but I'll try."