The riders were very close in the peloton for most of the 153-kilometre race, which saw the riders travel from Agrigento to Santa Ninfa.

However, Battaglin, riding for Team LottoNL-Jumbo, and compatriot Giovanni Visconti, competing for the Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team, made it a two-man contest with just a couple of hundred metres to go.

Eventually, it was Battaglin who came out on top as he sprinted to the line to finish in a time of 4 hours, 6min and 33sec.

Visconti finished in second with Portugal's José Gonçalves, riding for Team Katusha, finishing third.

"The finish was a little difficult yesterday," Battaglin told Eurosport following his win.

"Yesterday was a powerful sprint, but today was a steep climb and at 2km to go I had time to rest and recover and have a really big sprint."

Battaglin's win today, the third Giro d’Italia stage win of his career, means that Italian riders have now won three of the first five stages of the Grand Tour for the first time since 2009.

Australia's Rohan Dennis, who rides for BMC Racing Team, still leads the overall standings with a time of 18:29.41.

He is, however, just one second ahead of Tom Dumoulin of The Netherlands, the defending champion, in the race for the pink jersey.

Great Britain's Simon Yates is a further 16 seconds back in third.

The event continues tomorrow.