Fabio Aru moves back into second place with stage 19 win

Aru, 24, ended a disappointing week on a high with a well-timed attack on the fourth and final climb of the gruelling 236km stage from Gravellona Toce to take his first - and his team's fourth - win on the 98th edition of the Giro d'Italia.

Wearing the white jersey as best young rider, Aru punched the air as he crossed the line 28 seconds ahead of Canadian livewire Ryder Hesjedal of Cannondale-Garmin.

Finishing 1min 18sec ahead a group containing Astana team-mate Landa and the maglia rosa Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), Aru returned to second place in the overall standings. He now trails the Spanish race leader by 4:37 ahead of the final mountain showdown on Saturday.

Double stage winner Landa stays 5:15 behind compatriot Contador but is now in third place after a strangely subdued performance in the shadow of Aru.

Colombian Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep) took third place on the stage, finishing eight seconds ahead of the maglia rosa group after attacking in a tunnel on the final climb.

Spain's Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) was the last rider from a break of nine riders to be caught shortly after the start of the decisive climb – not before picking up maximum points over the two previous first-category climbs to soar to the top of the blue jersey mountains classification.

BLUE-MINDED BREAK: The second longest stage of the race played out under a bright blue sky and clement temperatures in northern Italy, a break of nine riders forming after 30km of racing.

With Astana keeping the pace high in the pack, the leaders could only carve out a maximum lead of four minutes as they motored up the Aosta valley and approached the first climb of the day.

Carlos Betancur (Ag2R-La Mondiale) picked up maximum points over the Cat.3 Croce Serra climb to keep up his (now extinct) outside shot for the blue jersey – but it was the Colombian rider who was first to be caught by the peloton after being dropped on the first of three successive Cat.1 climbs, 85km from the finish.

Team-mate Matteo Montaguti soon followed, swept up on the Saint Barthelemy climb alongside fellow Italian Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) and Dutchman Nick Van der Lijke (LottoNL-Jumbo).

By now Visconti – sixth in the overnight KOM standings – had made his move. The Spaniard was joined by Paval Kochetkov (Katusha), Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky), Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) and Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), but edged ahead of his fellow escapees to take the points over the summit.

Behind, Visconti’s Movistar team-mate Benat Intxausti attacked from the pack to pip current blue jersey Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) over the summit and take virtual ownership of the Dutchman’s blue jersey.

Visconti soloed clear on the Cat.1 Col de Saint Pantaleon and held a two-minute advantage over the Astana-led peloton going over the summit, with only Kochetkov riding in pursuit after the remnants of the break were swept up and spat back out.

Maximum points over the top saw Visconti leapfrog Intxausti into the top of the blue jersey standings. His job for the day done, 32-year-old Visconti – a double Giro stage winner from 2013 – was caught by the main pack with 10km remaining on the final climb to Cervinia.

ASTANA ON SCRIPT: With five riders – including Messrs Aru and Landa – driving the pace, Astana clearly meant business in the penultimate mountain stage of the race.

But it was actually an attack by Team Sky’s Kanstantin Siutsou which sparked the flurry of moves which resulted in Aru riding clear.

After Aru’s first attack, it was Hesjedal who responded with a dig that saw the Canadian move ahead on the same mountain where he first wrested the maglia rosa from the shoulders of Joaquim Rodriguez during his successful 2012 Giro campaign.

With Leopold Konig (Team Sky) about to join the select chasing group, Aru made his decisive move with 7.5km remaining. Third in last year’s Giro, Aru caught and passed Hesjedal with 6km remaining before opening up a decent gap over his podium rivals, who seemed quite happy at the state of play.

Such was the stalemate between Contador and Landa that Uran was able to return to the chasing group and then pull clear to secure his strongest finish in an otherwise disappointing race.

Aru added to Landa’s double stage haul and Paolo Tiralongo’s victory to give Astana their fourth win of the race before the impressive Hesjedal crossed the line 28 seconds down. Uran took third at 1:10 before the maglia rosa group came home at 1:18.

With the overall victory in Milan all but secured, Contador can add the gloss on a second Giro title with victory in Saturday’s 199km stage from Saint-Vincent to Sestriere, which includes the brutal Colle delle Finestre ahead of the final rise to the finish.