Joao Almeida earned UAE Team Emirates a second successive stage victory at the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday and moved up to second place in the overall standings.
The Portuguese rider launched his attack with around five kilometres remaining and beat Geraint Thomas in a two-man sprint finish to earn his first Giro stage win.
The latest victory comes on the back of Irish teammate Brandon McNulty's success in Sunday's Stage 15.
Ineos Grenadiers rider Thomas, who lost the overall lead to Bruno Armirail on Saturday, now takes over again at the top, enjoying an 18-second advantage over Almeida, who moved up to second.
Primoz Roglic of Jumbo-Visma crossed the line 25 seconds later for third place, slipping 29 seconds behind Thomas in the overall standings.
“I'm super-happy, it's a dream come true, after four years [at the Giro] I was always so far and so close at the same time,” said 24-year-old Almeida afterwards. “Finally I got it so yeah I'm super, super happy.
“My team was amazing, they did a really good job like always. I tried to give it a go at the end it was a super hard day, always up and down, for the legs it was super hard.
“I would say the hardest so far and I was feeling good, I took the risk to go for it, if you don't try you never know.
“Like I said I'll always try to go for more, if I feel good I'll attack, if I don't attack maybe it's because I'm not so good. But I'll always fight it until the end to give it everything I have.”
Ineos, who have already lost Tao Geoghegan Hart to a fractured hip and Filippo Ganna to Covid-19, suffered another blow when Pavel Sivakov abandoned the race midway through Tuesday's ride, which began at Sabbio Chiese.
Sivakov was injured in the crash that ended Geoghegan Hart's race on Stage 11. His withdrawal leaves Thomas with only four support riders in the final week.
The Welshman admitted that while he was pleased to be back in the leader's pink jersey, it was disappointing not to win the stage and that another teammate was now out of the race.
“Yeah it would have been nice to win the stage, but it was one of them where I had to keep riding.
“I didn't want to play cat and mouse with Joao with Roglic behind, so we worked well together, and he led it out and got the jump on me and unfortunately he won the sprint.
“But it's nice to be back in pink and to gain some time, but obviously it's not great to lose a teammate [Pavel Sivakov].”
When asked whether he was surprised about Almeida's ride, Thomas added: “He was always one of the biggest rivals I've got, he's often shown how strong he is, his team too, so no surprise.”
Wednesday's Stage 17 is a 195-km route from Pergine Valsugana to Caorle.
