Demi Vollering won stage five of the women’s Giro d’Italia as Anna van der Breggen retained the overall leader’s pink jersey.

Dutch rider Vollering pipped her compatriot to the line in a four-way sprint at the end of the first mountain stage of this year’s race, with Germany’s Antonia Niedermaier in third on the same time and Canada’s Isabella Holmgren, two seconds back.

Elisa Longo Borghini, who has won the two previous editions of the race, was dropped on the final climb of the 146km route into Santo Stefano di Cadore.

However, the Italian made up ground on the descent to lose just 15 seconds on the day, as she crossed the line in fifth, with New Zealand’s Niamh Fisher-Black on her wheel.

“It was a very hard day, with the race splitting much earlier than expected,” said Vollering.

“Fortunately, I had Lauren Dickson with me, and she kept the pace high before I launched my attack. Now we need to avoid any risks over the next two stages before Saturday’s queen stage.”

Vollering’s triumph completed her set of Grand Tour stage victories and moved her up to second in the general classification a minute behind four-time winner Van der Breggen.

The former Tour de France Femmes and La Vuelta Femenina champion is aiming to become only the second rider to win all three Grand Tours in women’s cycling after Annemiek van Vleuten.

On Thursday, the race travels 159km from Ala to Brescello, on flat run that has a technical finale that is likely to lead to a bunch sprint to the line.