The Astana rider moved up to fourth in the general classification standings as he sealed his first Grand Tour victory.

The young Italian waited until the final three kilometres of the iconic climb before making his move, attacking from the main challenger group and taking with him overall race leader Rigoberto Urán.

The pair quickly caught up to the two leaders on the road, Fabio Duarte of Colombia and France's Pierre Rolland, with 2.3km remaining.

Aru hardly paused before accelerating once again, and this time no one went with him.

Although Colombia's Nairo Quintana came up to the group behind Aru and produced a couple of brief digs in the final kilometre, the Astana rider kept increasing his advantage all the way to the line, where he finished 21 seconds ahead of Duarte.

Fabio Aru broke from the main challenger group to level with race leaders Fabio Duarte and Pierre Rolland before powering on to take the stage win ©AFP/Getty Images



Despite joining Aru in the earlier push, race leader Urán could not keep with Quintana, Rolland and Duarte in the final kilometre, finishing the race in fifth, 42 seconds behind Aru.

"I am very happy and can hardly believe it yet," said the tearful Sardinian at the finish.

"I must say thanks to the team, who stayed close to me all day.

"My team mates were really exceptional.

"I'm really happy, but I'm not going to get ahead of myself.

"I've still got a lot to learn, and from tomorrow everything will be just as it was before."

The 23-year-old now sits just 2 min 24sec behind race leader Urán as the riders get set for a rest day tomorrow.

Urán of Colombia extended his advantage over his closest challengers and is now 1:03 ahead of Australian Cadel Evans and 1:50 ahead of Poland's Rafal Majka.

"It was a long day and the teams were very strong today," Urán said.

"I'm happy, now there's a rest day and then the Giro continues."

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