Attacks on the vicious climb of Mortirolo, one of the day's five mountains, cracked overnight leader Abraham Olano of Spain, who finished two minutes and 52 seconds behind the day's winner, Italian Ivan Gotti with Tonkov second.
It gave the Russian a convincing race lead of two minutes and 43 seconds from Italy's Enrico Zaina with Olano now 2:57 behind after holding a minute advantage of 0.46 seconds over Tonkov. They started the day equal on total time but divided by the fractional differences in the times registered in Thursday's time trial. Saturday produced an emphatic decision. As Tonkov and Gotti raced towards the finish line the Russian eased, allowing Gotti to pass to win the 21st and longest stage over 250 kms from Cavalese. With some 20 kms still to race Tonkov was celebrating with arms aloft.
As they completed the 12.6 kms struggle to the 1,852 metres Mortirolo summit, excited crowds brought the road down to a cycle's width, and his victory salute turned to gestures to the crowd to step back. Behind them Olano was already trailing by 2:22 after first an attack by the ambitious Zaina, Friday's winner, and then Gotti shattered the group of main contenders.
When Gotti made his move inside three kms from the top of a climb with 18 per cent gradients, only Tonkov could respond, leaving Zaina and Latvian Piotr Ugrumov to fight it out for third place.
Olano rode alone for the final 40 kms, his hopes crushed of emulating compatriot Miguel Indurain, who scored his second Giro triumph three years ago.
1. Ivan Gotti (Ita) Gewiss 7.55.00 (31,579 km/h) 2. Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Panaria-Vinavil + 0.03 3. Piotr Ugrumov (Rus) Roslotto-ZG + 0.57 4. Enrico Zaina (Ita) Carrera s.t. 5. Abraham Olano (Spa) Mapei-GB + 2.52 6. Giuseppe Guerini (Ita) Team Polti + 5.31 7. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) Festina s.t. 8. Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Mapei-GB s.t. 9. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Team Polti s.t. 10. Stefano Faustini (Ita) Aki-Gipiemme s.t. 11. Buenahora 12. Shefer 13. Piepoli + 5.36 14. Zberg + 10.51 15. Rodriguez Nelson 16. Teteriuk 17. Faresin 18. Bo Larsen 19. Pulnikov 20. Garcia Felix 21. Cenghialta 22. Laukka 23. Bugno 24. Pellicioli 25. Berzin 26. Fernandez Gines 27. Jaskula + 12.27 28. Saligari + 19.44 29. Finco 30. Simeoni 31. Baldinger 32. Della Vedova 33. Vona 34. Massi 35. Beltran + 24.25 36. Noe + 33.17 37. Spruch + 36.50 38. Belli 39. Bontempi 40. Checchin 41. Forconi 42. Petilleau 43. Roux 44. Zen 45. Uslamine 46. Piccoli 47. Gontchenkov 48. Tronca 49. Gasperoni 50. Sanchez de la Rocha 51. Loda + 39.33 52. Artunghi 53. Guidi 54. Sivakov 55. Ouchakov 56. Baffi 57. Missaglia 58. Boscardin 59. Lombardi 60. Di Grande 61. Casagrande Francesco 62. Bettin 63. Calcaterra 64. Frigo 65. Moller 66. Brignoli 67. Petito 68. Imboden 69. Vidal 70. Dotti 71. Roncacio Gonzalez 72. Rodrigues Quintino 73. Casarotto 74. Zanette 75. Donati 76. Cerezo 77. Sierra Pena 78. Scirea 79. Brognara 80. Milesi 81. Pelliconi 82. Patuelli 83. Velo 84. Perona 85. Caruso 86. Vergnani 87. Hodge 88. Salvato 89. Barbero 90. Bramati 91. Galletti 92. Djavanian 93. Uria 94. Garcia Ignacio 95. Serpellini 96. Johnsen 97. Casagrande Filippo 98. Manzoni. Starters: 106 non starter: 1 (Furlan) Finishers: 98 Abandons: 8 (Cauz, Gorini, Conti, Puttini, Cattai, Laddomada, Vatteroni, Kjaergaard).
1. Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Panaria-Vinavil 100.37.02 (37.903 km/h) 2. Enrico Zaina (Ita) Carrera + 2.43 3. Abraham Olano (Spa) Mapei-GB + 2.57 4. Piotr Ugrumov (Rus) Roslotto-ZG + 3.00 5. Ivan Gotti (Ita) Gewiss + 3.36 6. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Team Polti + 9.15 7. Stefano Faustini (Ita) Aki-Gipiemme +10.38 8. Alexander Chefer (Kaz) Scrigno-Blue Storm +11.22 9. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) Festina +12.54 10. Eugeni Berzin (Rus) Gewiss +14.41 11. Buenahora + 18.02 12. Zberg + 20.13 13. Teteriuk + 25.29 14. Laukka + 26.44 15. Lanfranchi + 26.56 16. Pulnikov + 27.11 17. Garcia Felix + 29.17 18. Cenghialta + 29.21 19. Faresin + 34.01 20. Jaskula + 37.15 21. Fernandez Gines + 37.55 22. Guerini + 39.13 23. Pellicioli + 42.10 24. Rodriguez Nelson + 42.22 25. Finco + 49.06 26. Di Grande + 59.49 27. Bo Larsen + 1.01.02 28. Beltran + 1.03.22 29. Bugno + 1.05.00 30. Gontchenkov + 1.05.24 31. Casagrande Franc. + 1.07.56 32. Dotti + 1.08.15 33. Zen + 1.16.58 34. Della Vedova + 1.19.17 35. Massi + 1.24.13 36. Belli + 1.24.20 37. Noe + 1.24.41 38. Piepoli + 1.25.04 39. Tronca + 1.27.46 40. Vergnani + 1.35.31 41. Checchin + 1.42.44 42. Roux + 1.42.56 43. Vona + 1.44.13 44. Saligari + 1.52.11 45. Uslamine + 1.52.16 46. Piccoli + 1.52.44 47. Spruch + 1.54.33 48. Donati + 1.56.14 49. Simeoni + 1.57.26 50. Imboden + 1.58.59 51. Roncancio Gonzalez + 1.59.27 52. Bontempi + 2.12.54 53. Patuelli + 2.12.57 54. Petilleau + 2.13.00 55. Zanette + 2.15.43 56. Gasperoni + 2.17.00 57. Missaglia + 2.18.28 58. Loda + 2.18.29 59. Barbero + 2.20.21 60. Baldinger + 2.21.40 61. Sanchez de la Rocha + 2.25.33 62. Guidi + 2.26.01 63. Petito + 2.26.12 64. Bettin + 2.26.47 65. Casarotto + 2.27.54 66. Caruso + 2.28.29 67. Perona + 2.29.11 68. Garcia Ignacio + 2.30.19 69. Serpellini + 2.32.48 70. Djavanian + 2.33.22 71. Brignoli + 2.33.35 72. Bramati + 2.33.46 73. Sivakov + 2.34.03 74. Uria + 2.35.16 75. Galletti + 2.35.22 76. Hodge + 2.40.35 77. Ouchakov + 2.41.54 78. Rodrigues Quintino + 2.43.22 79. Sierra Pena + 2.46.39 80. Baffi + 2.47.14 81. Boscardin + 2.49.00 82. Velo + 2.49.15 83. Salvato + 2.53.12 84. Frigo + 2.53.18 85. Vidal + 2.54.23 86. Manzoni + 2.57.12 87. Casagrande Filippo + 2.57.14 88. Milesi + 3.00.05 89. Artunghi + 3.03.37 90. Pelliconi + 3.05.08 91. Calcaterra + 3.13.17 92. Lombardi + 3.15.47 93. Brognara + 3.16.49 94. Forconi + 3.17.34 95. Scirea + 3.20.03 96. Johnsen + 3.35.05 97. Moller + 3.37.28 98. Cerezo + 3.43.20.