The Italian looked to be down and out after Team Sky's Dario Cataldo of Italy and the Colombian Jarlinson Pantano dropped him in the final stages.

Battaglin found another gear, however, and surged past the duo in the final 50 metres of this 164 kilometre route from Agliè to Oropa.

"Until the final kilometre I didn't believe it could happen, because I had already given a lot as I'd been in the break all day, which had taken a great deal out of me," said Battaglin.

"Then I saw that they were just ahead of me and I only thought about giving all I had left.

"In the sprint I lost a few metres right away, then I gritted my teeth and saw that both Cataldo and Pantano were struggling.

"I passed them in the final 20 metres.

"I only just managed it.

"It was a great victory, very emotional."

After being dropped by Dario Cataldo and Jarlinson Pantano in the final kilometre, Enrico Battaglin recovered strongly to surge to the finish and claim victory on stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia ©AFP/Getty Images



In the battle for the pink jersey, race leader Rigoberto Urán had his lead cut to 32 seconds as Australian Cadel Evans finished ahead of the Colombian.

Colombian pre-race favourite Nairo Quintana began clawing back his compatriot's advantage as he gained 25 seconds on the race leader, but still sits more than three minutes adrift.

Urán showed signs of struggle as the Giro entered its final mountainous phase, failing to track a break by Italian Domenico Pozzovivo and Quintana in the final 4km.

Urán then looked to limit his losses and, with significant help from Dutch Omega Pharma-QuickStep team mate Wout Poels, managed to keep the break to within 30 seconds.

Although his losses were minimal, they do not bode well for the race leader's prospects on tomorrow's much more testing mountain stage to Plan di Montecampione.

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