Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) once again made it clear that he is a rising star by taking an impressive solo victory in the first of two hilly stages in the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali. He ended up 34 seconds ahead of Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez and took over the overall lead.

On a hard day where the repeated occurrence of the Monte Tiffi climb had done some damage and reduced the peloton to just a 9-rider front group, Ulissi countered an attack by teammate and fellow GC captain Damiano Cunego with a little more than 10 km remaining. Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez tried to join the talented Italian, but he failed to close the gap.

Having already made his fantastic form visible in the Paris-Nice where he took an overall top 10, Ulissi soloed on, and no one was able to make any inroads on his advantage. On the contrary, the gap kept growing, and at the finish line he had 34 seconds on his lone pursuer.

Cunego sprinted ahead of his companions as the group arrived 1.11 in arrears and ended up a fantastic day for Lampre. With his victory, Ulissi takes the overall lead 58 seconds ahead of Rubiano and 1.17 ahead of Cunego.

The Lampre rider will try do what he did not manage to do last: defend the jersey all the way to the finish on Sunday. In 2012 he won two stages, but lost the overall lead in the final time trial. That time trial is scheduled for Saturday, but before that Ulissi will have an opportunity to gain further time in another hilly stage tomorrow.

An early escape

The second stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali was a difficult affair and looked to be one of the key stages of the race. After a completely flat opening, the race hit a final circuit around the city of Sogliano al Rubicone, and with the difficult Monte Tiffi to be climbed 5 times, the potential for an attacking race was there.

Early on, 5 riders managed to create a gap on the peloton. Jacobe Keough (UnitedHealthCare), Dominique Cornu (Topsport Vlaanderen), Lukas Pöstlberger (Team Gourmetfein), Peter Kusztor (Utensilnord) and Manuel Amaro (Ceramica Flaminia) made up the day's early breakaway.

With his attacking nature, Cesare Benedetti (NetApp-Endura) decided to close the gap on his own, and after a hard chase, he made contact with the front group. In the peloton, the Katusha team of race leader Maxim Belkov made sure to keep the gap under control.

The break is brought back

On the Monte Tippi, Keogh and Cornu were both dropped from the break. In the peloton, the pace picked up rapidly as Lampre and Cannondale tried to put their rivals under pressure. With two laps and 44 km left to race, it the break was caught, and the battle of the favourites could begin.

Maxim Belkov had been dropped and had great problems defending his leader's jersey. He managed to get back to the front for a short while, but as they hit the Monte Tippi again, the Russian breakaway specialist was dropped for good.

The peloton had been drastically reduced and now consisted of 18 riders: Leopold Konig (NetApp-Endura), Ivan Basso and Moreno Moser (Cannondale), Daniele Pietropolli, Damiano Cunego and Diego Ulissi (Lampre.Merida), Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani-Csf), Matteo Rabottini and Fabio Taborre (Fantini-Selle Italia), Franco Pellizotti, Emanuele Sella and Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Androni-Venezuela), Davide Rebellin (CCC Polsat), Philip Deignan (Unitedhealthcare), Sergio Pardilla (Mtn Qhubeka), Radoslav Rogina (Adria Mobil), Matija Kvasina and Riccardo Zodil (Gourmetfein Simplon). As they passed the finish line to start the final lap, Rabottini attacked and immediately created a gap.

Rabottini crashes while in the lead

Disaster struck for last year's winner of the mountains jersey in the Giro as he crashed while he was still alone at the front. Before he got up, he was caught and passed by the group, and Fabio Taborre was now the lone representative of the Vini Fantini squad.

Moments later Cunego, Moser, Pietropolli and Deignan managed to create a gap, but a hard chase by Rebellin closed the gap. Cunego was, however, in an attacking mood, and he put in another acceleration - just to be reeled in a few kilometres later.

That was the signal for Ulissi to put in his decisive acceleration. Rubiano was able to join him for a short while, but the hard pace of Ulissi on the steep slopes of Monte Tiffi forced the Venezuelan to drop off.

Ulissi managed to keep up the pace on the downhill run-in to the line, and he even extended his advantage. In the end, he was well clear of Rubiano and took the leader's jersey in the race for the second consecutive year.