Ireland's Eddie Dunbar ninth on Giro stage four

Ireland's Eddie Dunbar finished ninth in stage four of the Giro d'Italia, a mountainous 175-km ride from Venosa to Lago Laceno.

AG2R Citroen rider Aurelien Paret-Peintre dug deep and launched a late attack to win his maiden Grand Tour victory while Andreas Leknessund seized the leader's maglia rosa jersey from Remco Evenepoel.

After an action-packed start to the stage, a seven-man group engineered a breakaway at the 79-km mark and gradually built a lead which was over five minutes at one point.

The duo of Paret-Peintre and Leknessund (Team DSM) opened up a gap on the group on a steep climb close to the finish.

Dunbar was outside of that seven-man breakaway group but sprinted home strongly to finish among a group of the general classification favourites, 2:01 behind Paret-Peintre.

Ben Healy, who had started the day strongly and launched several unsuccessful attacks on the leaders, eventually finished in 78th, 11:53 behind the race winner.

Dunbar sits in 14th in the general classification with Healy 57th.

Wednesday's stage five is a 171-km ride from Atripalda to Salerno, featuring numerous climbs before a flat finish.