Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) won Stage 10 of the 2018 Giro d'Italia to Gualdo Tadino after attacking in the final 40km of the stage.
The Slovenian took Nico Denz (AG2R La Mondiale) to the line and outsprinted the German despite leading out the sprint. Behind Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) took third on the stage.
Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) retained the pink jersey finishing within the peloton among his General Classification rivals.
The headline news for the stage was that second placed Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) dropped out of contention in the race for General Classification.
After dropping from the peloton early in the stage, the Colombian was unable to bridge back across.
Stage 10 as it unfolded
Stage 10 of the 2018 Giro d'Italia from Penne to Gualdo Tadino was the longest of the race, totalling a gruelling 244km, a distance long enough to constitute a one-day classic.
Coming off the back of the second rest day, how the day would pan out was pretty unpredictable. A day's rest is good for some but can cause issues for others.
One rider who would have been thankful for the day off is Chris Froome (Team Sky). A difficult start to the Giro with a crash before the Stage 1 time trial was accompanied by time loss on Mount Etna and Gran Sasso Italia.
As the riders departed Penne, the pace was high, with a large group escaping with your usual breakaway protagonists including Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin).
Although communications between the race and the viewers were bad initially, word did creep through that second placed rider Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) had lost contact with the lead group.
Him alongside leader of the sprint classification Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) found themselves in a gruppetto frantically chasing to regain the wheel of a charging peloton.
Things were not looking good for the smiling Colombian. Two minutes down on his rivals it was going to take a big effort to chase back on. Thankfully the Quick-Step Floors team provided help in a bid to bridge Viviani back across.
With 121km remaining, Quick-Step Floors had reduced the gap to the pink jersey group to 1 minute 10 seconds providing Chaves with a slim lifeline. Ahead in the peloton, the pace was set by a mixture of General Classification teams including Team Sky and Groupama-FDJ.
With the support of Chris Juul-Jensen and Roman Kreuziger, Chaves fought valiantly to regain contact. Some said his troubles were due to a crash, others citing allergies while it seemed most likely the Colombian had developed a slight throat cold during the rest day.
While the cameras attended to Chaves behind, ahead his teammate and race leader Yates jostled it out with Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) for the intermediate sprint points. The Bury man took the points and extra seconds with relative ease.
Under the guise of sprinting for bonus seconds, Androni Sidermec's Marco Frapporti shot ahead of the rest forming a one-man breakaway, quickly gaining 40 seconds on the peloton.
Frapporti's attack should have been expected. Gianni Savio's Androni have been full of beans all Giro, being part of every breakaway, lighting the race up at the least expected moments. All they needed now was a rewarding stage victory.
As the peloton rolled over th 84km to go marker, the Chaves group was marked at being 5 minutes adrift. It was safe to say that GC ambitions were now over for the 28-year old.
Frapporti then worked his war up to a 2 minute 46 seconds lead while the peloton became relaxed with 40km remaining. The weather looked chilly as riders dug in their pockets for gilets with many also modelling arm warmers.
In the final 38km attacks began. Mohoric and Davide Villella (Astana) chucked the dice in an attempt to bridge to Frapporti. This caused the pink jersey group to turn on the pressure.
Mohoric, using his superior descending skills, managed to gap the remaining breakaway hopefuls on the final drop to the line with the Yates group chasing frantically behind.
In the last 18km, defending champion Dumoulin slid off in the increasing rain. A few scuffs on his arm however he looked fine chasing back to the main peloton.
Ahead, Sergio Heano (Team Sky) and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing) chased the leading trio in an attempt for the stage win. Villella was dropped and Denz was struggling to keep the wheel of Mohoric.
As one of the best descenders in the peloton and the inventor of the cycling on the toptube, Mohoric seemed in a far superior position dragging the gap out to 46 seconds to the chasers and 1 minute 16 seconds to the peloton.