Richie Porte jumped up to third overall at the Giro d'Italia following the race's first summit finish on stage five.

The Tasmanian looked strong on the second-category climb as he rode across the gap to shut down a huge acceleration from Alberto Contador in the closing stages.

Porte even put in a dig himself before settling into a four-man group on the ascent to Abetone, eventually finishing fifth on the stage, right on the wheel of his rivals.

Fabio Aru (Astana) led the group home ahead of Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Porte as the general classification contenders went toe-to-toe for the first time in the race, putting time into the peloton behind.

Despite that the trio crossed the line one minute and 31 seconds back on solo stage winner Jan Polanc (Lampre-Merida), with Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) holding on for second by only a matter of metres.

The end result sees Contador pull on the maglia rosa after five stages, with the Spaniard holding a slender two second lead over Aru, with Porte just 20 seconds back.

Elia Viviani held on to the red points jersey for another day, with the battle set to re-intensify on Thursday with another likely sprint stage into Castiglione della Pescaia.

“I think after yesterday there were a lot of tired guys and it’s obviously nice to be in that group,” Porte said. “Hopefully I’m just going to be able to keep going like this day by day.”

"Contador's attack was expected, to be honest. It was lucky for Astana that Landa came across and did some good work. I’m happy where I’m at, feeling good and looking forward to keeping on fighting.

“It’s not exactly the most difficult of climbs, but I got caught in a bit of a bad position there and when we caught Chavanel on the line I couldn’t come round him. But I’m happy with where I’m at.”