Diego Ulissi's late attack proved fruitful as the UAE Team Emirates rider saw off Peter Sagan to clinch stage two of the Giro d'Italia. 

Ulissi broke free from the peloton with around one kilometre to go on the final climb of the 149km route from Alcamo to Agrigento on Sunday. 

Sagan stuck with Ulissi until the final sprint but was unable to prevent the Italian claiming a seventh career stage win at the Giro. 

"It was a very hard climb, I did my maximum but Ulissi was stronger," Sagan said afterwards. "It was pretty hard, three kilometres at full gas." 

There was another strong performance from Team INEOS' Geraint Thomas, who maintained his lead over fellow general classification contender Simon Yates. 

Thomas is third in the overall standings, 23 seconds behind his INEOS team-mate Filippo Ganna, who has the lead following victory in Saturday's time trial. 

However, Ganna's full focus is now on supporting team leader Thomas. 

"The climb was really hard," Ganna said. "I've conserved the [Maglia Rosa] jersey, I'm really happy. From tomorrow, I'll work for the team because it's a really hard day and it can decide the jersey. 

"[My role] is to support G [Thomas], obviously. I'm here for that and happy to support him."