Saxo Bank rider Alberto Contador stormed to his first stage victory of this year's Giro d'Italia today to take overall control of the race.
The Spaniard, the 2008 Giro winner, completed the ninth stage in four hours, 54 minutes and eight seconds after an impressive attack on Mount Etna.
Jose Rujano of Androni Giocattoli came second, three seconds behind Contador, while Acqua & Sappone cyclist Stefano Garzelli finished third, 47 seconds further adrift.
The result moved Contador, who put on the pink jersey for the first time, 59 seconds ahead of HTC's Kanstantsin Siutsou in the general standings heading into the first rest day of the race.
Ireland's Philip Deignan provided support for Radioshack team leader Tiago Machado after the Portugese rider struggled towards the summit finish on the volcanic Mount Etna.
Deignan paced Machado over the final 7kms toward the summit, in an effort to minimise time loss against Contador's assault. As a result any chance of Deignan taking a good placing in the stage was lost as he finished 37th. Deignan did manage to limit Machado's losses to 4m47s and keep his team leader in with a hunt of a decent overall classification. Machado lies 8m34s off the lead overall.
Deignan climbs to 96th overall, 46m14s behind. The Donegal man will now surely be targeting a stage victory in the second week of the competition to make an impression on what has been a disappointing Giro for the rider thus far.
With less than seven kilometres to go, Contador went solo, with Lampre's Michele Scarponi going in close pursuit of the Spaniard.
But as Contador increased the tempo, the Italian could not keep up and fell back, leaving Rujano to chase in second place.
The leading pair had a 40-second advantage on the chasing group with less than four kilometres remaining but Contador shifted into a higher gear to leave Rujano behind.
Tons of ash from the active volcano of Etna had to be cleared from the roads ahead of today's 169-kilometres stage that rose to an altitude of 1,892 metres.
The stage started in Vincenzo Nibali's home town of Messina.
Nibali, the Liquigas rider, who is considered one of Contador's main rivals, would eventually finish 50 seconds behind the Spaniard on the day.
Four riders attacked early on, including Briton Peter Kennaugh of Team Sky, but as they entered the 261m climb at Taormina, the leaders were caught by the peloton.
At 109km into the stage, eight riders - Rayoslav Popovych (Radioshack), Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini), Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Alessandro Vanotti (Liquigas), Pablo Lastras (Movistar), Filippo Savini (Colnago-CSF), Mathias Frank (BMC) and Mikael Cherel (AG2R) - escaped from the peloton.
They soon opened a five-minute advantage heading into the first ascent of Mount Etna. Vacansoleil rider Maxim Belkov went in pursuit of the leaders but the Russian soon slipped back to the peloton.
Astana, Lampre and Liquigas worked hard at the front of the pack and, with 23km to go, as the riders tackled the southern side of Etna, the gap had narrowed to less than four minutes.
With 13km remaining, Visconti, Lastras, Frank and Bakelants then led the race, with the other remaining break members 15 seconds behind them.
But they soon gave way to the determined Contador.
