Edvald Boasson Hagen was keen to test his legs on his birthday and the Norwegian put in a great display in today's first mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia. When he was caught, his teammate Kanstantsin Siutsou was the first to open the action from the group of favourites.

Edvald Bosson Hagen and Kanstantsin Siutsou animated a mountainous eighth stage of the Giro d’Italia which saw Diego Ulissi emerge victorious and Cadel Evans move into the pink jersey.

Boasson Hagen celebrated his 27th birthday by infiltrating the day’s main breakaway, and produced a battling display before he was eventually swept up 14km from home.

The Norwegian had initially been distanced when three riders attacked from the 10-man group on the early slopes of the Cippo di Carpegna, but Boasson Hagen refused to go down without a fight and was only hauled back as he toiled up the next ascent to Villaggio del Lago.

By then only Julian Arredondo (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani CSF) remained from the early escapees, but Pirazzi was dropped moments later, leaving Pierre Rolland (Europcar) in sole pursuit of the adventurous Arredondo.

Arredondo crested the penultimate climb alone, which meant he moved into the King of the Mountains jersey, but his days were numbered when Rolland bridged the gap on the final ascent to Montecopiolo, just 2.7km from home.

Rolland dispensed of the Colombian one kilometre later, but Siutsou was part of a vastly reduced peloton who were closing ground on the Frenchman with every pedal stroke.

Siutsou had looked comfortable on the early slopes of that final climb - at one point testing his legs off the front - but couldn’t quite follow when the fireworks began as they passed under the flamme rouge.

Rolland came within 250m of a famous victory, but it was Ulissi (Lampre) who was celebrating for the second time in four days after passing Robert Kiserlovski (Trek Factory Racing) in the last 100m and hanging on for a hard-fought victory.

Evans took control of the Maglia Rosa by finishing eight seconds back alongside Rigoberto Uran, and the Australian now leads the Omega Pharma – Quick-Step rider by 57 seconds at the top of the overall standings.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) put two seconds into both those riders - moving up to eighth place in the process - and Siutsou is now Team Sky’s highest-ranked rider, in 23rd place, after he crossed the line 28 seconds behind Ulissi.

Michele Scarponi's general classification ambitions were dealt a fateful blow, however, as the Astana rider rolled home almost 10 minutes adrift, while overnight leader Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) lost over 34 minutes and arrived home in the grupetto.

Back on the bus, Sports Director Dario Cioni revealed it has always been the plan for Boasson Hagen to test his legs on his birthday, and he was satisfied with the way the team acquitted themselves on the first real day in the mountains.

“Edvald had put his hand up right from the start and told us he wanted to be in the break, and we tried to get Bernie [Eisel] in there with him for support. The other teams weren’t so happy with that though, so we left Edvald alone and he produced a good display.

“Kosta also looked strong right up until the last kilometre, but he must have been right on the limit because he wasn’t able to react when the attacks started flying.

“We would have liked to have had Dario [Cataldo] up there too at the end but he’s been struggling a bit since his crash the other day and he lost pace on the second-to-last climb. We’ll see how he gets on tomorrow because that stage is quite a lot easier.

“It looks like it could be one for the breakaway so we’ll see about getting someone up there again. Now the GC has settled down and the frontrunners have emerged, there won’t be the same impetus for them to chase if the right move goes, so we’ll follow the early moves and see what happens.”