Diego Ulissi marked the Giro d’Italia’s homecoming with victory in stage four from Catanzaro to Praia a Mare yesterday as Dutchman Tom Dumoulin took hold of the leader’s pink jersey.

After three stages in the Netherlands, home fans were out in force to watch the peloton speed through the rolling Calabrian countryside and Lampre-Merida rider Ulissi rewarded them as he held on to take the 200 kilometres stage.

Dumoulin led the chasing pack across the line, five seconds back, to replace Germany’s Marcel Kittel as the overall leader.

Sprinter Kittel, winner of the previous two stages before Monday’s rest day, struggled on the climbs in the second half of the day’s stage.

“It’s a really nice feeling,” Ulissi, who has now won five Giro d’Italia stages throughout his career, told reporters.

“When I was small I dreamt about things like this, it’s a beautiful emotion.”

Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) is leading the Giro d’Italia overall standings by 20 seconds from Bob Jungels (Etixx-Quick Step) going into today’s fifth stage which finishes at Benevento.