Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) proved that he has hit his absolute peak condition for the Giro d'Italia when he won today's first big mountain stage of the race in very convincing fashion. Having made it over the very steep penultimate climb, he responded to an attack from Robert Kiserlovski (Trek) with 500m to go and finally used his incredible sprint to take the win. The favourites failed to attack each other and finished largely together, meaning that Cadel Evans (BMC) takes over the leader's jersey from Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE).

 

Diego Ulissi left the Ardennes hugely disappointed and hoped to use the Giro d'Italia to make up for a below-par showing in the races that mattered the most for him. Three days ago he already did so when he won the fifth stage of the race in convincing fashion but today he proved that he is currenly unstoppable.

 

On a much harder stage that suited him a lot less, he showed that is in great condition as he emerged as the strongest in the first big mountain battle of the race. Again he made use of his punchy sprinting skills in uphill finishes to take his third ever victory in his home grand tour.

 

While the final climb was a very irregular affair with short, steep ramps interspersed with flat sections, Ulissi had to survive the brutal Carpegna ascent to get to a finale that suited him well. As Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r) rode a brutal pace on the front that caused the group to splinter to pieces, Ulissi was seen struggling at the back and he made it over with the best as the final rider of the group.

 

Up ahead, Julian Arredondo (Trek) looked like the winner of the stage after he had emerged as the strongest from the early 10-rider break but his position came under threat by Pierre Rolland (Europcar) who had attacked on the descent and gradually started to get close to the Colombian. Inside the final three kilometres, the junction was made and as Arredondo fell behind, it seemed that it would be the second consecutive French stage win.

 

In the small group of favourites, however, an impressive Steve Morabito was ramping up the pace for BMC and as Rolland started to fade, the gap melted away. As they passed the flamme rouge, they headed innto the very steep final 500m and it became clear that Rolland wouldn't hold on.

 

Daniel Moreno (Katusha) launched one of his trademark accelerations and quickly passed the leading Frenchman and for a brief moment it seemed that he would save Katusha's race. Like ROlland, however, he quickly started to fade and instead Robert Kiserlovski launched a fierce attack.

 

Ulissi stayed calm and followed the Croatian's wheel while the pair rode away from all the pre-race favouries, passing Moreno in the process. He stayed cool all the way to the 00m to go sign where he finally made use of his trademark sprint to come around his rival.

 

Behind the favourites refused to break the ceasefire that had been in place all the way up the final climb as Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) led Nairo Quintana (Movistar) across the line. A small 2-second gap was made to Cadel Evans, Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r) but it was almost status quo among the race favourites.

 

As expected Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) lost contact with the bunch already on the lower slopes of the first climb and so lost his grip of the maglia rosa. As most had expected, Evans took over the lead and now sits a comfortable 57 seconds ahead of Uran.

 

Evans faces his first defence of his jersey in tomorrow's 9th stage which has another uphill finish in the Apennines. After a flat start, the riders go up to smaller climbs in the finale before it all comes to an end with the long category 2 climb to the finish in Sestola. With an average gradient of just 5.5%, however, it is not expected to make any difference between the overall contenders.

 

The first mountain stage

After a testing first week, it was finally time for the first mountain stage of the race when the riders took on the 179km from Foligno to Montecopiolo. After a flat first part, the riders went up the very steep Carpegna climb, summiting 35km from the finish. It was followed by a technical descent and then the final climb to the finish which was split in two. First it was an easy, gradual ascent while the second half was a very irregular affair with both steep ramps and flat sections.

 

For once, the peloton took off under beautiful sunny conditions and the riders were undoubtedly pleased to have left the rain behind them for now. There was one non-starter as Cameron Meyer had failed to revocer from his illness and left the successful Orica-GreenEDGE team with just 7 riders.

 

An aggressive start

With Orica-GreenEDGE likely to relinquish their hold on the jersey, the door was open for attacks and so it was no surprise that the start of the stage was very fast. After 5km, a big 10-rider group escaped but it was brought back two kilometres later.

 

Several attacks ensued but Sky neutralized most of it. After 16km of racing, 16 riders got a 20-second gap but that move was too big for Movistar who brought it back at the 23km mark.

 

A big group gets clear

That's when the right break finally took off when 10 riders managed to slip clear. Julian Arredondo (Trek), Julien Berard (Ag2r), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky,) Mauro Finetto (Neri Sottoli), Marco Bandiera (Androni), Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani), Carlos Quintero (Colombia), Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar), Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) and Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre-Merida) made up the very strong break that quickly opened a big gap while the peloton took a small breather.

 

Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) took off in pusuit while the gap reached 4 minutes after 30km of racing. 7km further up the road, the advantage had been doubled as Orica-GreenEDGE just set a steady pace in the peloton.

 

Several teams lead the chase

BMC, Tinkoff-Saxo and OPQS realized that Orica had no interest in bringing back the break and so they started to chase when the gap had reached 8.30. Danilo Wyss (BMC), Pawel Poljanski (Tinkoff) and Iljo Keisse (OPQS) assumed their position on the front and started to bring down the gap. Hansen didn't get much closer to the escapees and with 140km to go, he was still 1.30 behind.

 

Movistar also decided to chase and so Francisco Ventoso joined the team of chasers and for a long time, it was four riders swapping turns on the front. Hansen sat up and was brought back when 124km remained.

 

The gap comes down

As Tinkoff-Saxo added a bit more firepower to the chase by putting Jay McCarthy on the front, the gap started to come down. 95km from the finish it was 7.00 and for several kilometres, it hovered around that mark.

 

While Boasson Hagen beat Bandiera in the intermediate sprint, the peloton ramped up the speed and the gap started to come down again. Despite Tinkoff-Saxo stopping their work, it was 6.00 55km from the line.

 

Pirazzi attacks

That's when Orica-GreenEDGE decided to honour the maglia rosa one final time and it was Svein Tuft, Michael Hepburn and later Luke Durbridge that ramped up the speed as they approached the first climb. Behind, the battle for position was fierce with the many trains almost sprinting to get into a good position for the ascent.

 

With 50km to go, Pirazzi made a small acceleration that briefly split the break but only Bandiera failed to regain contact. At that point, the gap was down to 4.10 and the peloton started to explode.

 

Movistar take control

There was a small break in the main group where nobody really wanted to take up the chase until Movistar took over. Andrey Amador was the first to set the pace and then it was Eros Capecchi and Adriano Malori that led them to the final steep part.

 

At this point, Matthews had already fallen off the pace and even though he briefly managed to rejoin the main group, his time as race leader was clearly over. Up ahead, Pirazzi attacked again and this time only Arredondo and Quemeneur could respond.

 

Ag2r up the pace

The trio went clear while Boasson Hagen, Quintero and Cattaneo formed a chase trio from which Cattaneo was soon dropped. In the peloton, Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre) had an untimely puncture and spent a lot of energy to get back.

 

On the steep part, Igor Anton set the pace for Movistar but moments later Pozzovivo asked his teammate Alexis Vuillermoz to up the speed even further. That's when the peloton really blew apart and the gap was now down to less than 2 minutes.

 

Arredondo takes off

With 38km to go, Pirazzi again attacked but it was the counterattack by Arredondo that stuck. The Colombian quickly got a big gap to Pirazzi while Quemeneur was even further behind.

 

At the top, he was 36 seconds ahead of Pirazzi and 50 seconds ahead of Quemeneur. Quintero was at 1.25 while Boasson Hagen and Cattaneo were at 1.40.

 

A small group of favourites

The main group now only consisted of Vuillermoz, Pozzovivo, Rolland, Majka, Rosa, Evans, Morabito, Kelderman, Quintana, Basso, Aru, Kiserlovski, Pellizotti, Hesjedal, Uran, Roche, Rogers, Poels, Siutsou and Ulissi and Vuillermoz led them over the top with a deficit of 1.55. As soon as they started the descent, Rolland took off and he quickly opened a big gap while Morabito took control of the peloton.

 

At the bottom of the descent, Quemeneur had slowed down to wait for his captain and they quickly rejoined Quintero and Pirazzi. Boasson Hagen was now ahead of them but on the lower slopes, they passed the Norwegian, dropping Quintero in the process.

 

Ag2r again hit the front

In the peloton, Poels had briefly set the pace while a lot of riders had rejoined them. On the lower slopes of the climb, Matteo Montaguti set the pace for Ag2r until Hubert Dupont took over near the top.

 

Quemeneur emptied the tank for Rolland until the captain had to take over. Pirazzi stayed with him for some time before he finally fell off the pace.

 

Vuillermoz ups the pace

At the top of the first part of the climb, Rolland had closed the gap to just 55 seconds. Pirazzi was at 1.35 while Dupont led the peloton across the line just 12 seconds later.

 

When the road again ramped up, Vuillermoz took over the pace-setting and he whittled the peloton significantly down. With 6km to go, only Aru, Pozzovivo, Dupont, Vuillermoz, Pellizotti, Kelderman, Evans, Sanchez, Morabito, Basso, Geniez, Hesjedal, Ulissi, Monfort, Quintana, Poels, Brambilla, Uran, Moreno, Siutsou, Majka, Kiserlovski were left and they now caught Pirazzi.

 

Rolland makes contact

With 3km to go, Siutsou made the first attack. Pozzovivo responded immediately but Quintana brought it back together. At that point, they were 1.20 behind but when Morabito hit the front, the gap started to melt away.

 

2.7km from the line, Rolland made contact with Arredondo. The Colombian managed to stay with him for a little while but finally had to surrender.

 

Moreno makes a move

Majka had made a small attack in the peloton but it was Morabito who led the group past Arredondo and under the flamme rouge. None of the favourites tried anything while Rolland desperately tried to hold onto his lead.

 

The final steep 500m ramp was his undoing. Moreno launched a fierce acceleration and quickly passed the Frenchman until he started to fade himself. That's when Kiserlovski made the race-winning attack that only Ulissi could join, with the Italian ultimately sprinting ahead to take the win.