Bernal leaves his rivals in the dust as he extends his lead

Colombian Egan Bernal, riding for Ineos, tightened his grip on the overall Giro d'Italia lead after Wednesday's 11th stage won by Switzlerand's Mauro Schmid

Team Qhubeka's Schmid won the 162km stage as part of a long range breakaway while 2019 Tour de France winner Bernal extended his overall lead in Tuscany.

Belgian Remco Evenepoel was one of the big losers of the day, as the race resumed after Tuesday's rest day, falling behind in the final 20km to drop two minutes and eight seconds to Bernal, who gained time on all his rivals.

The 24-year-old Colombian was at ease throughout the day and perfectly mastered the final 35km section of white dirt roads that also feature on the Strade Bianche one day classic.

In the climb to Montalcino, Bernal outpaced Russian Aleksandr Vlasov in a group that included British riders Hugh Carthy and Simon Yates.

Evenepoel fell behind a first time in the descent of the first of four dirt road sectors and was definitely trailing in the third were he clearly suffered and had to be helped by Deceuninck-Quick-Step teammate Joao Almeida.

But the 21-year-old Belgian, making his cycling comeback in the Giro after nine months out following an accident, dropped from overall second to seventh at 2min 22sec adrift of the pink jersey.

France's Romain Bardet also lost steam late along with Italian climber Giulio Ciccone.

Schmid, 22, pulled clear of Italian breakaway rival Alessandro Covi, finishing just 01sec ahead for his first professional win.

Overall Bernal leads Vlasovic by 45sec with Italian Damiano Caruso at 1min 12sec.

VIDEO: 2021 Giro d'Italia Stage 11 Highlights

2021 Giro d'Italia Stage 11 Top 10

1 Mauro Schmid (Swi) Team Qhubeka Assos 4:01:55
2 Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:0:01
3 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:0:26
4 Dries De Bondt (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:0:41
5 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
6 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane' 0:0:44
7 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:01:23
8 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team 0:01:37
9 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:01:43
10 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team 0:01:59

2021 Giro d'Italia GC after Stage 11

1 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 42:35:21
2 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech 0:00:45
3 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:01:12
4 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo 0:01:17
5 Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange 0:01:22
6 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:50
7 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:22
8 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:24
9 Tobias Foss (Nor) Jumbo-Visma 0:02:49
10 Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:03:15