An extraordinary stage 14 at the Giro d'Italia saw Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team) take a shock win atop the Monte Zoncolan while the fight for the maglia rosa exploded in the final kilometres as Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) attacked race leader Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and the rest of his rivals.
Fortunato, who is riding his maiden Grand Tour, and had never won a professional bike race until today, was part of the early break that included George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) but neither rider could do anything when Fortunato tracked down an early attack from Jan Tratnik on the final climb.
The leading pair established a 45-second lead on the rest of the break as Ineos Grenadiers began to take control of the peloton on the lower slopes of the Zoncolan. With 2.3km to go Fortunato attacked once more and although Tratnik held the Italian at just a few seconds all the way to the line he was unable to catch the homegrown talent.
Simon Yates attacked from the maglia rosa group with only Bernal able to follow and the duo cut through the rest of the early break before Bernal dropped the British rider with a few hundred metres.
At the line, the maglia rosa had put 11 seconds into Yates but the gaps were far more significant and damaging further down the climb with Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana Premier Tech) dropping from second overall to fourth and Remco Evenepoel's podium chances take a huge hit after he was dropped well before Yates and Bernal attacked.
Watch the Giro d'Italia stage 14 highlights video above.
