Yates, who started the day in third place, lost 4’39”, while Thomas finished 5’08” down; Landa was almost 27 minutes back, while Kelderman was forced to abandon as a result of the crash.

As a result, Quintana now leads Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) by 28 seconds overall, while Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) is a further two seconds back.

Despite the race’s second summit finish awaiting, there had been no shortage of riders looking to get into the day’s break, with Omar Fraile (Dimension Data) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) among those in the nine-man move.

Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac) was part of a three-man counter-attack which followed but, when they initially struggled to get across, the American team turned the heat on in the peloton.

Rolland eventually bridged across, but Cannondale-Drapac’s efforts in the bunch meant the gap to the breakaway was never significant.

Movistar took over the pace-setting, and the advantage was down to just two minutes with 68km still to ride.

Bahrain-Merida and Sky also joined Movistar on the front of the bunch, and the breakaway’s 30-second advantage at the foot of the final climb was soon wiped out.

Rolland, Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto-SOudal) and Jan Tratnik (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) provided some resistance, but it was ultimately futile.

Dumoulin and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) also passed Nibali, but up the road Quintana was not going to be brought back.

His victory ensures he takes the maglia rosa into the second rest day, with Pinot and Dumoulin now his closest rivals overall.

Yates is 16th overall, at 4’49”, while Thomas is 17th, a further 25 seconds down.

The former does at least still have the white jersey to contest, however – Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) finished just inside the top ten to take over the jersey on Blockhaus, and Yates is 2’04” down in the fourth place in the youth classification.

Giro d’Italia 2017: stage nine – result

1) Nairo Quintana (COL) – Movistar – 3.44.51hrs
2) Thibaut Pinot (FRA) – FDJ +24”
3) Tom Dumoulin (NED) – Team Sunweb – ST
4) Bauke Mollema (NED) – Trek-Segafredo +41”
5) Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) – Bahrain-Merida +1.00
6) Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale +1.18
7) Tanel Kangert (EST) – Astana +2.02
8) Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) – Katusha-Alpecin +2.14
9) Sebastien Reichenbach (SUI) – FDJ +2.28
10) Davide Formolo (ITA) – Cannondale-Drpac +2.35

General classification

1) Nairo Quintana (COL) – Movistar – 42.06.09hrs
2) Thibaut Pinot (FRA) – FDJ +28”
3) Tom Dumoulin (NED) – Team Sunweb +30”
4) Bauke Mollema (NED) – Trek-Segafredo +51”
5) Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) – Bahrain-Merida +1.10
6) Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) -Ag2r-La Mondiale +1.28
7) Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) – Katusha-Alpecin +2.28
8) Davide Formolo (ITA) – Cannondale-Drapac +2.45
9) Andrey Amador (CRC) – Movistar +2.53
10) Steven Kruijswijk (NED) – LottoNL-Jumbo +3.06