Top favourite Jonas Vingegaard powered up a steep finish to triumph on stage seven of the Giro d'Italia on Friday.
The twice Tour de France champion won his maiden stage in the race by beating Felix Gall by 13 seconds and Jai Hindley by over a minute on the 245 kilometre ride from Formia to the ascent at Blockhaus.
Portugal's Afonso Eulalio stayed in the leader's pink jersey but Denmark's Vingegaard, hoping to win all three Grand Tours before rival Tadej Pogačar given the Slovenian is absent in Italy, is now on his tail.
Saturday's stage eight is 156km from Chieti to Fermo.
