On a small climb inside the opening 10km, an early move formed with Jonas Geens, Jardi Christiaan van der Lee, Juan Pedro López, Mattia Bais and Manuele Tarozzi, who built a maximum lead of around two minutes. With well over 100km still to ride, the gap dropped under a minute and prompted a wave of bridging attempts; Johan Jacobs attacked and linked up with Geens, Van der Lee and Tarozzi plus Jonas Rutsch and Fredrik Dversnes Lavik to open up a fresh two-minute advantage.
The race tilted on the day's two categorised climbs. On the Colle Giovo, Movistar drove so hard on the front that sprinters Dylan Groenewegen, Pascal Ackermann and Tobias Lund Andresen were shelled out the back, and the pace was high enough that the breakaway was reeled in as a by-product. On the Bric Berton, NSN helped Movistar keep the hammer down, distancing Casper van Uden and Paul Magnier, while Jonathan Milan was dropped inside the final kilometre of the climb. The three crested roughly a minute down, regrouped with teammates, and tried to chase — but made no inroads and abandoned the effort with 20km to go.
At the intermediate sprint, pink jersey Afonso Eulálio scooped six bonus seconds and Ben O'Connor took four. Then, just before a corner with 3.4km remaining, Alec Segaert jumped. The Bahrain Victorious time-trial specialist opened an immediate gap, and with the chase failing to organise behind, the 23-year-old Giro debutant powered to the biggest win of his career. Behind him, Toon Aerts edged Guillermo Silva for second.
The day that looked nailed-on for a sprint instead delivered a finisseur's masterclass — and, thanks to Eulálio's bonus seconds, left the GC picture marginally tighter in the leader's favour rather than unchanged.