Plapp in great escape as Italy's Ulissi take Giro lead

Australian Luke Plapp broke away on a 50km solo attack to win a hilly stage eight of the Giro d'Italia on Saturday as veteran Italian allrounder Diego Ulissi grabbed the overall lead.

A series of attacks ensued early in the hilly stage, with the main contenders allowing the escape to make it far enough ahead of them for Plapp to climb the podium as winner and, to the delight of the crowds, drink a considerable amount of the fizzy wine he sprayed over them.

The 24-year-old Jayco-Alula rider from Melbourne shook his head in disbelief at the finish after his first major win following an impressive solo effort in the picture-postcard hills.

"It's a dream come true," said Plapp, who seemed a little lost for words. "It was a savage fight to get in that breakaway. I decided to go solo with 45km to go because I knew I couldn't beat any of them in a sprint," he said modestly.

But just 38sec behind Plapp, third-placed Ulissi gazed at the clock in a nail-biting wait for overnight leader Primoz Roglic to cross the line.

Ulissi had been 4min 01sec down at the start and the main contenders for the title were just a handful of seconds outside that limit, meaning he couldn't celebrate until he knew they had missed the time cut.

"I was going for the stage win, I hadn't thought about the race lead until the fans started to shout about the pink jersey along the road," Ulissi said.

"When I was a kid I used to watch the Giro with my grandparents and dreamed about this mythical jersey. So this is hugely satisfying," the 35-year-old said.

Ulissi now leads Roglic by 17sec in the overall classification and will ride out in pink Sunday giving home crowds something to cheer in his home region of Tuscany.

It had been 86 stages since an Italian led the race – Alessandro De Marchi was the last to wear pink just over four years ago.

The result was a boost for Ulissi's Astana team, who are in the second-tier Continental Tour.

Another Astana man Lorenzo Fortunato has the blue climb points jersey and sits second in the overall, 12sec off compatriot Ulissi.

There were four categorised climbs between the coastal town of Giulianova, along a rugged 197km route through the Abruzzo region, to the Castelraimondo finish – halfway up the Italian peninsula.

When the contenders for the overall Giro win did come into the home straight, Friday's stage winner Juan Ayuso attacked and finished just 1sec ahead of Roglic but once again used up a great deal of energy to do so with 13 long stages remaining.

"There's still a very long way to go," Roglic said at the line before handing over the pink jersey.

Sunday's stage will run over the white gravel roads of the sparkling wine vineyards outside Siena.

STAGE 8 RESULTS

1. Luke Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla) - 180 80 16″ 4:44:20

2. Wilco Kelderman (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) - 130 50 6″ 0:38

3. Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana Team) - 95 35 6″ ,,

4 Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) - 80 25 4″ 1:22

5. Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) - 60 18 1:35

6. Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) - 45 15 1:48

7. Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana Team) 40 12 ,,

8. Georg Steinhauser (EF Education - EasyPost) - 35 10 2:59

9. Romain Bardet (Team Picnic PostNL) - 30 8 3:02