Giulio Ciccone won a tortuous, mountainous slog on stage two of the Tour of Catalunya on Tuesday just ahead of Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel.
The trio had chased down and overtaken Colombian climber Esteban Chaves over the final 500m of a twisting shoelace climb to set up a pulsating struggle to the summit finish at a snowy 2 150m altitude.
The result leaves Slovenian Roglic in the overall lead on a race already bearing the familiar pattern of Jumbo-Visma's black and yellow tunics heading up the main peloton.
Reviu l'últim quilòmetre de l'Etapa entre @matarocat - @Vallter2000/@AjSetcases (@valldecamprodon) i la victòria de @giuliocicco1 (@TrekSegafredo)
— Volta a Catalunya (@VoltaCatalunya) March 21, 2023
??Relive the last Km os the stage with the win of @giuliocicco1 (@TrekSegafredo) pic.twitter.com/vH29wT8Xe6
Trek's Ciccone led the Tour de France as a rookie after claiming the fabled yellow jersey at La Planche des Belles Filles in 2019.
Here the Italian's performance earned him the King of the Mountains jersey on a Tour where it takes on particular significance due to its mountain-packed route.
"This is the most beautiful win of my career, a magical day," said Ciccone.
??@giuliocicco1 s'imposa a @rogla i @EvenepoelRemco en un final d'infart a @Vallter2000
— Volta a Catalunya (@VoltaCatalunya) March 21, 2023
???? Giulio, re di Vallter
??@giuliocicco1 se impone a @rogla y @EvenepoelRemco en un final de infarto
??@giuliocicco1 beats @rogla and @EvenepoelRemco in a heart-stopping sprint. pic.twitter.com/vxZsAXvCQJ
Pretenders Mikel Landa, Jai Hindley and Joao Almeida were all close at the finish of a 164km ride featuring three climbs.
Adam Yates won here the last two times the Tour of Catalunya passed but he fell Monday and rolled across the line battered and 10mins behind.
Former Tour de France and Giro d'Italia winner Egan Bernal fell off the pace dropping 2min 45sec and seems to be still recovering from a life threatening accident 16 months ago.
Bernal's Ineos teammate Geraint Thomas also dropped 2min 24sec on stage two as the Welsh veteran played it cool.
The race left the seaside town of Mataro, a 30-minute drive north of Barcelona in bright sunshine headed for the ski resort of Vallter in the Catalan Pyrenees led by an eight rider break that would be caught at the foot of the final climb.
Wednesday's third of seven stages is another major day of mountain action with three huge summits on the way to another ski resort at La Molina.