Rigoberto Urán (Sky) produced a stunning climbing performance to capture a solo victory on stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia as the Italian stage race resumed on Tuesday.

The Colombian jumped clear on the final ascent of the Altopiano del Montasio and never looked back to claim his first Grand Tour stage victory in style.

Team Sky worked hard on the epic 167km test and pushed the pace onto the final climb until Urán was pressed into action, winning the stage by 20 seconds over compatriot Carlos Betancur (AG2R-La Mondiale) but doing enough to move up to third place overall.

The first category ascent was not as kind to Uran’s Sky teammate, Bradley Wiggins, who slipped back in the final kilometres on the steepest section and battled from then on to limit his losses. The Brit finished 10th on the day to drop one second behind Urán on the GC, two minutes and five seconds down on the maglia rosa of Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).

The Italian overcame a few chain problems to finish third on the stage, capturing a clutch of bonus seconds and push his advantage out to 41 seconds over nearest challenger Cadel Evans (BMC Racing).

“I’m very happy to have taken the win today,” an elated Urán said after his stage win. “It is the first win for me in a Grand Tour and it is very satisfying after getting so close before. It is nice to finally be able to finish off a victory.

“It is doubly special as it came after such a strong ride from the team. It was always the plan for me to attack on the climb and things went to plan. The team rode incredibly all day.

“The result has meant I have jumped up a few positions on the general classification so now I am one second in front of Brad. That is a good position to be in for me and for the team to have two riders up there.

“There is still such a long way to go in this Giro but today we showed that we have one of the strongest teams in the race, if not the strongest.”