Italian mountain specialist Emanuele Sella came home alone to win in the 14th stage of the Tour of Italy on the Alpe de Pampeago summit on Saturday.

The first day in the Dolomites produced a new leader with Italy's Gabriele Bosisio inheriting Giovanni Visconti's pink jersey.

Sella crossed the line over four minutes in front of Belarus rider Vasik Kiryienka and more than five minutes in front of Spanish champion Joaquim Rodriguez.

The first three to finish were part of a 13-strong group that slipped the peloton as early as the 13th kilometre in this 195km run.

Sella made his move 50km out on the Manghen pass.

The pink jersey contenders including Astana's Alberto Contador and Germany's Andreas Kloden waited until the last three and a half kilometres on the stiffest portion of the final 1740m climb to play their hands.

Saturday's result was compensation for Sella who had been robbed of a possible win in the seventh stage at Pescocostanzo due to a puncture.

This was the 26-year-old's second success in the Giro, four years after he took a stage at Cesena.

Bosisio, the winner of this year's stage at Pescocostanzo, was taking charge of the pink jersey for the first time.

He leads Contador in the overall standings by five seconds with a 28sec gap back to third-placed Marzio Bruseghin.

Riccardo Ricco lies fourth, 1min02sec adrift, followed by defending champion Daniele Di Luca (at 1:07), Kloden (1:11) and Russian Denis Menchov (7th at 1:18).

Sunday is the Giro's centrepiece 15thy stage, a 153km run between Arabba and the Fedaia summit with no fewer than six climbs to be negotiated.

AFP