Pre-race favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) proved his Giro d'Italia credentials by going alone to conquer the Blockhaus summit finish and win stage seven as the Dane made his first telling move of this year's race.
Vingegaard, making his Giro debut, went for broke with just over 5km to the top, with Austrian Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) the only rider to get close as he came in 13 seconds behind the winner.
Australian Jai Hindley, who triumphed at Blockhaus in 2022 before going on to win that year's Giro, finished third.
Overall leader, Portugal's Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious), put in a brave ride, coming in less than three minutes after Vingegaard to hold onto the pink jersey.
Ireland's Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) dropped to 85th overall, with Ryan Mullen (NSN Cycling Team) moving up 10 places to 155th in the general classification.
