Rigoberto Urán claimed the young rider's white jersey at the Giro d'Italia after he and fellow Colombian Sergio Henao produced outstanding rides on the 14th stage.

They finished sixth and 14th respectively on the stage behind Andrey Amador (Movistar), who edged out his fellow breakaway companions Jan Bárta (NetApp) and Alessandro De Marchi (Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela) at the end of an attritional 206 kilometres route from Cherasco to Cervinia.

Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) was next home in fourth after he came out of the chasing pack in the final 4km to put distance between himself and the rest, crossing the line in fourth, 20 seconds behind Amador but crucially 26 seconds ahead of his main general classification rivals.

That saw him take back the maglia rosa from Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) whom he now leads by nine seconds, with Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) up to third, 41 seconds back.

Urán is up to eighth at 1:19, 20 seconds in front of Henao in 11th. And they are first and second in the young rider standings, with a gap of 1:37 to Damiano Caruso (Liquigas-Cannondale) who dropped down to third.

A delighted Urán said: "I'm very happy to be in the young rider’s jersey and it's good to see Sergio right up there with me too.

"I knew I had good legs and while it wasn’t the steepest climb there was a little selection that was made. That will be even more the case tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to the final week.

"The team have done great work to support me, not only today but in the last two weeks."

It means Team Sky will take two of the jerseys into stage 15 as Mark Cavendish retained the maglia rossa after safely negotiating the day. Indeed his points lead was extended to 42 after closest rival Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) withdrew before the start.

All of which left Sports Director Steven de Jongh happy with the way the day had panned out as he told us: “It was a good day for the team. The guys moved up on GC so it’s looking good for us.

"The whole team came in safely and we’ve had no major problems. We have two jerseys within the team which is a great achievement."

Testing day

The most significant mountain test of the race so far finished with two category one climbs.

A frenetic early pace meant it took 67km for an eight-man break to move clear and by the time they reached the penultimate climb, the 22.4km Col de Joux, their advantage was still over 10 minutes.

Bárta moved clear of his fellow escapees on that ascent but after going over the top Amador launched his effort to bridge the gap and De Marchi then made it a three-man selection.

The peloton was cutting the gap as Liquigas-Cannondale did much of the work on the front but it started to splinter when an attack from José Rujano (Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela) and particularly Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) forced Astana into action.

All the while Urán and Henao were well placed in that select group and team-mates Geraint Thomas and Juan Antonio Flecha were there supporting them deep into the final 27km climb up to Cervinia.

As the numbers dwindled, the Colombian duo both maintained a steady rhythm and Henao led out Urán in the sprint for fifth place which eventually went to Tiralongo.

De Jongh added: "After a tough start to the stage for the peloton the guys performed their roles well today and the Colombians were very impressive at the end.

“It’s going to be a tough stage again tomorrow and I’m sure we will see a further shake-up in the standings."

Another mountain test awaits on Sunday as stage 15 covers 169km from Busto Arsizio to Lecco/Pian del Resinelli.