Mathieu van der Poel put in an incredible burst of power on the final climb of Via Santa Caterina in Siena at Strade Bianche to take a famous win ahead of Julian Alaphilippe and Egan Bernal.
That big trio pulled clear of an all-star breakaway in the finale and arrived at the base of the final climb with about 25 seconds in hand on a chase group.
In that second group were: Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma), Tadej PogaÄar (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Gogl (Qhubeka Assos) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos).
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The writing was on the wall for Van Aert and Pidcock when they were dropped after Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) put in a dig with 23km to go and sent both riders out the back.
And while Pidcock and Van Aert stayed calm and got back into the group, they were on the back foot at that stage.
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The winning selection was made by Van der Poel; the Alpecin Fenix rider attacking on the final Le Tolfe gravel sector and bringing Alaphilippe with him, with Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) clawing his way back up to them.
And that's how it stayed to the finish, the leading trio riding onto the final climb where Van der Poel attacked from the front. A big gap immediately appeared between him and Alaphilippe, with Bernal drifting back further in 3rd.
Van der Poel won by five seconds from Alaphilippe with Bernal in 3rd at 20 seconds. Despite his earlier problems, Van Aert dropped the chase group on the final climb and was 4th at 51 seconds.
And just three seconds later the impressive Pidcock finished in 5th on the same time as Gogl in 6th and Pogacar 7th. Next home, and best of the non-breakaway riders, was Simon Clarke, the Qhubeka Asso rider in 8th place at 2:25.
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