Italy's Valerio Conti took the leader's pink jersey in the Giro d'Italia from Slovenia's Primoz Roglic after coming second in the sixth stage Thursday.
26-year-old Roman Conti came in behind countryman Fausto
Masnada after a long breakaway.
The last Italian in pink was Vincenzo Nibali three years ago,
in 2016, when he won in Turin before picking up his second Giro
after 2013.
Roglic, who came in 7'19" behind Masnada, had worn the jersey
since winning the opening time trial at Bologna.
Nibaldi finished in Roglic's group Thursday.
Masnada gave Italy its first stage win this year after Elia
Viviani was disqualified after winning the third stage.
Thursday's stage was a 238 km stretch from Cassino near
Frosinone to San Giovanni Rotondo near Foggia.
"What a fantastic emotion, I still don't believe it," said
Conti.
"The more the kilometres went by the more I realised that I
could pull it off.
"They'd been talking about my team (UAE Emirates) and the
possibility of getting the pink jersey but it's a long way from
saying so to actually doing it.
"Today I tried with all my might to get into a breakaway, I
tried more than once and in the end I found the right attempt".
How they finished Thursday:
1. Fausto Masnada (Ita) in 5h45'01" (+12" bonus)
(av speed 41.389 km/h)
2. Valerio Conti (Ita) at 00'05" (+09" bonus)
3. José Joaquin Rojas (Spa) at 00'38" (+04" bonus)
4. Robén Plaza (Spa) s.t.
5. Giovanni Carboni (Ita) at 00'43" (+01" bonus)
6. Pieter Serry (Bel) at 00'54"
7. Valentin Madouas (Fra) s.t.
8. Nans Peters (Ola) at 00'57"
9. Andrey Amador (Crc) s.t.
10. Amaro Antunes (Por) s.t.
11. Sam Oomen (Ola) at 01'03"
17. Primoz Roglic (Slo) at 07'19"
18. Simon Yates (Gbr) s.t.
26. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) s.t.
49. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) s.t.
General classification:
1. Valerio Conti (Ita) in 25h22'00"
(1,036.8 km raced, av speed 40.869 km/h)
2. Giovanni Carboni (Ita) at 01'41"
3. Nans Peters (Fra) at 02'09"
4. José Joaquìn Rojas Spa) at 02'12"
5. Valentin Madouas (Fra) at 02'19"
6. Amaro Antunes (Por) at 02'45"
7. Fausto Masnada (Ita) at 03'14"
8. Pieter Serry (Bel) at 03'25"
9. Andrey Amador (Crc) at 03'27"
10. Sam Oomen (Ola) at 04'57"
11. Primoz Roglic (Slo) at 05'24"
13. Simon Yates (Gbr) at 05'59"
14. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) at 06'03"
15. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) at 06'08"
32. Mikel Landa (Spa) at 07'13".
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