Giulio Ciccone went into the final climb with five kilometers to go with a minute gap to the group of Derek Gee, Michael Storer, Jan Hirt, Einer Rubio, Damiano Caruso, Sepp Kuss, and Giulio Pellizzari.
As the climb began taking its toll on the riders, the group quickly began to split as Pellizzari attacked, followed by Kuss and Gee as the general peloton followed behind the chasing group around 1:30 minutes behind.
Decathlon controlled proceedings in the peloton and launched a hard pace, setting up a perfect platform for Felix Gall to attack still in the first half of the climb. Jonas Vingegaard was quick to follow his back wheel, while Jai Hindley was slightly behind and was later joined by Pellizzari.
Thymen Arensman and Egan Bernal couldn't follow the pace of Gall and Vingegaard and were dropped, while Afonso Eulálio just did just enough to remain in contention to defend the white jersey over Davide Piganzoli.
Up front, Sepp Kuss wasted no time in dropping Piganzoli and Gee, and with two kilometers left on the stage, he linked up with Ciccone in front. There was nothing left in Ciccone's engine as Kuss attacked straight over the top and created the winning gap to take the stage win. Derek Gee was second on the day, and Ciccone survived for third.
Vingegaard cheered at his teammate's triumph when he crossed the line in the leader's jersey 39 seconds after Kuss. In the Visma camp, Kuss' victory probably overshadows the fact that Vingegaard lost the mountain jersey.
The big loser of the day was Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos), who lost his podium position to Jai Hindley (Red Bull). Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE) retired early in the stage. He managed to win three stages in this year's edition of the Italian Grand Tour.