Columbia's Kanstantsin Siutsou won Saturday's eighth stage of the Giro D'Italia as home favourite Danilo Di Luca kept hold of the leader's pink jersey.

After a 10-man break held off the peloton for more than 160 kilometres Siutsou, from Belarus, flew away from the pack with 15km to go before crossing the line 21 seconds ahead of yesterday's winner Edvald Boasson Hagen.

Di Luca recorded the same time in third place to keep his five-minute lead in the overall standings.

The first attack of the day came 29km after this morning's start in Morbegno, in the Valtellina Valley, when Dario Cataldo (QuickStep) and David Garcia Lopez (Caisse d'Epargne) made their move.

They had soon been joined by another eight riders and opened up a gap over the peloton which peaked initially at two and a half minutes.

A minute had been shaved off that by the time the leaders reached the summit of the first climb, Culmine di San Pietro, but it then opened up again to more than four minutes.

During the technically challenging descent of the Culmine, Rabobank's Pedro Horillo crashed and was flung 60 metres down a ravine. He was whisked to hospital where his condition was described as serious but not life-threatening.

As the race moved to within 50km of the finish line in Bergamo, the peloton cut the leading pack's advantage to around a minute.

Stefano Garzelli went over the day's final major climb, Colle del Gallo, in first but his five-man leading pack was swallowed up with 16km to go.

Siutsou attacked moments later and built a 38-second lead before finally crossing the line 21 seconds ahead.