Jon Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) won the 16th stage of the Giro d'Italia as his fellow Spaniard Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) retained his overall lead on a day which was dominated by a big breakaway group.
The 10 riders, all from different teams, escaped 63 kilometres into the 173km route from Limone sul Garda and with none of them even a remote threat on the general classification - José Herrada (Movistar) was best-placed at 32:34 back - they were allowed to open up a substantial lead.
It was still over 12 minutes heading into the final 25km and the stage only really came to life on the steep climb inside the final 5km to the finish at Falzes/Pfalzen.
It was there - on a 2km section which averaged 8.6% - that Izagirre made his move. Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela) was the only rider to respond but he was unable to get onto his wheel and soon dropped back to join forces with Herrada and Stef Clement (Rabobank) to try and reel him back in.
However Izagirre had done enough and he had 14 seconds in hand going under the flamme rouge, meaning he was able to savour his victory as the line approached.
De Marchi and Clement were second and third respectively, both 16 seconds behind.
The focus then switched to the peloton which eventually arrived nearly nine minutes adrift.
Liquigas-Cannondale had surged to the front late on and the pace remained high which deterred any late attacks. Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago - CSF) did manage to come out of the pack but Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky) went with him and nipped past on the line to claim 11th.
It's as you were in the overall standings as the main general classification contenders all came in together, meaning that Rodríguez maintains his 30 seconds lead over Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda), with Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) 1:22 back in third.
Team Sky's Sergio Henao is still eighth overall and in the young rider's jersey while team-mate Mark Cavendish tops the points classification and stays in the maglia rossa.
Resuming after the rest day and at the start of a hugely testing final week of the race it was no great surprise to see the stage turn into something of a stalemate once the right break got away.
That didn't happen until after the 60km mark and the other riders in that escape group who were all rewarded with top 10 finishes were Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol), Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank), Matthias Brändle (NetApp), Mathias Frank (BMC Racing), Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Luca Mazzanti (Farnese Vini).
After that point there was a relatively relaxed air about the whole stage, with the time gaps hovering around 12 minutes until the closing stages.
It's likely to be much more intense on Wednesday's 17th stage which covers 186km from Flazes/Pfalzen to Cortina d'Ampezzo and features a quartet of big climbs including the epic Passo Giau at 2236m.
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