Thursday, 12 July 2018:

AMANDA SPRATT of Australia in action during the Elite Women's Road Race in Florence, Italy.

Australian cycling star Amanda Spratt has snared the overall lead at the Giro Rosa after winning the first summit stage.

The Mitchelton-Scott rider launched a solo attack with 5km left and it paid off for Spratt's first win in the top women's stage race.

Dutch teammate Annemiek van Vleuten finished 29 seconds behind after whittling down Spratt's rivals with a one-kilometre surge.

Having scouted the climb at Gerola Alta last month with van Vleuten, Spratt waited for a steep section and successfully attacked her rivals.

It is Spratt's fifth win this season and she leads the Giro Rosa by 30 seconds.

"We couldn't have asked for anything better from all the team today, they all rode so well to set up myself and Annemiek before the climb," Spratt said..

"It is a little bit surreal to be in the pink jersey, we wanted to see today if we had an opportunity to take time.

"It worked out well, there were quite a few attacks and it was hard and Annemiek really set me up for the attack when I went and it worked out perfectly."

AAP