The 213km hilly route from Bilbao to Urdax-Dantxarinea provided the peloton with their longest stage of this year’s race, part of the International Cycling Union (UCI) World Tour.

With tomorrow’s stage featuring four mountain passes, it came as no surprise that the general classification riders were happy to preserve their energy for much of the day.

it still took until the 24km mark for a breakaway group to form and move clear of the main field, with Russia’s Sergey Lagutin, the winner of stage eight, looking for a repeat success.

It was clear with 70km to go that the 12-man group would stay away for the remainder of the day as they boasted a lead of over 20 minutes when they reached the summit of the Alto de Agiña.

A series of attacks began to unfold as they approached the final 20km but Conti proved the only man capable of staying clear of his rivals, with the 23-year-old Italian powering away.

The Lampre-Merida rider entered the final kilometre with a comfortable cushion, giving him time to celebrate the biggest win of his career to date, crossing the line in a time of 5 hours 29min 04sec.

Switzerland’s Danilo Wyss led home the remainder of the breakaway, who came in 55 seconds down, as he sprinted to second ahead of Lagutin.

The peloton rolled across the line nearly 34 minutes behind the stage winner.

It had no effect on the general classification, however, with all of the breakaway riders posing no threat to the race favourites.

Colombia’s Nairo Quintana remains in the overall race lead, with the Movistar rider enjoying a 54 second advantage over Tour de France winner Chris Froome.

The Briton is 11 seconds ahead of Quintana’s Spanish team-mate Alejandro Valverde.

The trio will be expected to be at the head of the race tomorrow, with the 196km stage from Urdax Dantxarinea to Aubisque Gourette expected to be a key one in deciding the outcome on the overall race.