Intro:

Alberto Contador sees his overall lead of the Giro d’Italia narrowly reduced as breakaway rider Paolo Tiralongo claims a solo victory on stage nine.

Script:

Alberto Contador saw his overall lead of the Giro d’Italia narrowly reduced by Fabio Aru as breakaway rider Paolo Tiralongo claimed a solo victory on stage nine.

The top three in the general classification, Contador, Aru and Richie Porte, all arrived together at the flat finish to a rolling 224km route. However Aru managed to sprint away from his rivals and cross the line one second ahead in 10th place on the day.

The result sees Italian Aru close to within three seconds of Contador's lead, while Porte remains 22 seconds back in third.

Tiralongo formed part of the day's 10-man breakaway but moved into a lone lead with just over 4km remaining and hung on to win in San Giorgio del Sannio; 21 seconds ahead of runner-up Steven Kruijswijk and 23 seconds in front of third-placed Simon Geschke.

Monday is the Giro's first rest day but the race resumes on Tuesday with a 200km sprint stage from Civitanova Marche to Forli.