Fabio Aru of Astana has won stage fifteen of the 97th Giro D'Italia.
A flat stage with a summit finish on the nineteen kilometres long Plan di Montecampione was in stall for the riders ahead of the final rest day and this 225km stage from Valdengo to Montecampione saw twelve riders on the attack very early.
Maxime Bouet (Ag2r La Mondiale), Daniele Ratto (Cannondale), Johan Le Bon (FDJ), Andre Fernando Cardoso (Garmin Sharp), Damiano Cunego (Lampre Merida), Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol), Simon Geschke (Giant Shimamo), Luca Paolini (Katusha), Fabio Felline (Trek Factory Racing), Rodolfo Torres (Colombia), Jackson Rodriguez (Androni Giocattoli), and Enrico Barbin (Bardiani-CSF) were in the break and were over five minutes ahead of the peloton which still had Rigoberto Uran of Omega Pharma Quick Step in the maglia rosa with a thirty two second lead over Cadel Evans of BMC.
After eighty kilometres that lead had gone out to 5.23 and 7.15 with one hundred kilometres to go.
Mitch Docker abandoned due to a virus, leaving Orica Greenedge with only three riders left in the race.
Going into the final forty kilometres, the twelve had a lead of 5.02 which came down to 1.28 by the time the riders led by Adam Hansen reached the Plan di Montecampione.
King Of The Mountains leader Julien Arrendondo stormed out of the peloton and was inside a minute on Hansen who had been joined by Andre Cardoso of Garmin Sharp and Rodolofo Torres and Fabio Felline.
With Arrendondo forty seconds behind and the peloton at fifty seconds, Cardoso attacked but Hansen went with him before Felline shot past them. Cardoso countered with Hansen and over-took Felline to lead with just over twelve kilometres to go.
Arrendondo caught up to Felline and Cardoso as Hansen dropped back towards a peloton which with Samuel Sanchez on the front was only 22 seconds behind.
Into the final ten kilometres and Arrendondo was leading out Andre Cardoso with Zardini fifty metres or so behind them.
Irishman Phillip Deignan of Team Sky went off the front of the maglia rosa group and got passed Zardini and then the front two with nine kilometres left.
The Letterkenny born rider had seventeen seconds on a maglia rosa group which was being lead by Michael Matthews as the race went into the province of Brescia.
Uran launched an attack but Evans was able to hang on and then launch an attack of his own which the race leader countered. So Pierre Rolland of Europcar, who had moved up to ninth in the general classification tried and was able to catch up to Deignan.
With three kilometres later, Fabian Aru of Astana was taking Rigoberto Uran with him up the mountain. They caught Deignan 500 metres later and were after Rolland and Torres.
There was 1.8kms to go when Nairo Quintana caught up to Rolland as Uran watched Aru pull away.
Fabio Aru was away and won in 5.33.05. Twenty one seconds later Durate came home second with Quintana third, Rolland fourth and Uran fifth, some 43 seconds down.
Uran lost time to Quintana but keeps his leaders jersey going into stage sixteen on Tuesday.