Joao Almeida extended his lead in the Giro d'Italia as Diego Ulissi triumphed on stage 13.

Ulissi claimed the eighth Giro stage win of his career as he outsprinted Almeida at the end of a 192-kilometre ride from Cervia to Monselice.

Almeida's efforts saw him pick up six bonus seconds, stretching his General Classification advantage to 40 seconds over Wilco Kelderman.

Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) was third, while Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) saw his hopes vanish.

Demare, winner of four stages this year, could not keep pace after the peloton was split into three on a short final climb and eventually finished 41 seconds off the pace.

While Demare still holds a healthy lead in the battle for the Maglia Ciclamino, he is over two minutes behind Almeida in the GC standings with eight stages to go.

Speaking after his victory, Ulissi - who also won stage two - conceded another success in this Giro had not been in his thoughts.

"We did a great job on the last climb and the team set-up me up perfectly. We dropped the sprinters and reduced the peloton to a small group," said Ulissi. 

"I was tired after doing the climb so fast but [team-mate Brandon] McNulty was fantastic in the way he led it out. I saw I'd got my wheel ahead and won. I've been on form all season. I didn't expect to win another stage but it’s a great feeling."

STAGE RESULT

1. Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) 04:22:18
2. Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) +00:00
3. Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) +00:00
4. Tao Geoghegan Hart (INEOS) +00:00
5. Mikkel Frolich Honore (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) +00:00

CLASSIFICATION STANDINGS

General Classification
1. Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 53:43:58
2. Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) +00:40
3. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren) +00:49

Points Classification
1. Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) 221
2. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) 184
3. Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 78

King of the Mountains
1. Ruben Guerreiro (EF Pro Cycling) 87
2. Giovanni Visconti (Vini Zabu-Brado-KTM) 76
3. Filippo Ganna (Team INEOS) 45

WHAT'S NEXT?

Saturday sees the riders tackle a challenging 34.1km time trial from Conegliano to Valdobbiadene, which features one categorised climb and a maximum gradient of 19 per cent on the Muro di Ca' del Poggio.