Giro d'Italia: Gianluca Brambilla takes lead by winning stage eight

Italy’s Gianluca Brambilla took the overall lead of the Giro d’Italia by winning solo on an eventful eighth stage in which previous pink jersey wearer Tom Dumoulin suffered a major collapse.

Brambilla (Etixx - Quick-Step) formed part of the day's breakaway but then moved into a lone lead on the gravelled climb of the Alpe de Poti, with 25km to go, and won by 1min 6sec from runner-up Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale).

Back down the road, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) attacked out of the peloton on the exact same spot as Brambilla and was followed by all of the race favourites except for Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), whose excellent form in the previous seven stages suddenly deserted him.

Valverde's group of big names rode the rest of the climb and then the descent to the finish in Arezzo together, crossing the line between 1min 41sec and 1min 44sec down on Brambilla but 1min 10sec ahead of the ailing Dumoulin.

The result saw Brambilla climb to the top of the general classification and open up a lead of 23 seconds over second-placed Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) and 33 seconds over third-placed Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo).

Brambilla, who is expected to surrender the pink jersey in the coming days, said: "This is amazing. My idea at the beginning of the Giro was to focus on today's stage and I've made it, but I cannot believe that I've done it."

Valverde's reward for illuminating the stage with his attacks on the Alpe de Poti was a promotion to fourth overall, 36 seconds back, while Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) is now 45 seconds down in fifth.

Dumoulin's nightmare day saw him drop to 1min 5sec down in 11th, but he could climb back up the standings on Sunday's 40.5km individual time trial, a discipline in which he specialises.

Valverde said: "We have done a great job today. We have managed to create a really big gap. Everyone who was there with me in the group was good.

"Dumoulin got dropped, but this Giro is a long one. We couldn't get rid of everybody, and I think that means we are all good."

Stage eight result

1 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step, 4:14:05

2 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +1:06

3 Moreno Moser (Ita) Cannondale, +1:27

4 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data, +1:28

5 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing, +1:33

6 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +1:41

7 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, same time

8 Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, st

9 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, st

10 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha, st

Selected others

12 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +1:44

38 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +2:51

General classification

1 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step, 33:39:14

2 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha, +23sec

3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +33

4 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +36

5 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +45

6 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, +48

7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale, +49

8 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff, +54

9 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale, same time

10 Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, +1:03

Selected other

11 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +1:05