Italy's Damiano Cunego, of Lampre, retained the yellow jersey with a lead of over one minute on most of his major rivals ahead of Thursday's foray back into the mountains.

Bozic's last win came at the Giro d'Italia in 2009, a good enough reason for the Vacansoleil rider to be in tears at the finish line.

But part of his joy was partly down to him getting the measure of some bigger name rivals, with only Spanish veteran Oscar Freire able to give the Slovenian a run for his money on the uphill finish.

Rabobank sprinter Freire finished second half a bike length behind, with Slovakian Peter Sagan of Liquigas continuing his purple patch with a third consecutive top three place.

Britain's Mark Cavendish was among the big names who failed to contest the sprint, the Isle of Man rider finishing in 41st place despite his HTC-Highroad team making their presence felt at the front of the pack in the final 4km.

The race finishes Sunday with a 32.1 km time trial in Schaffhouse.