Jonas Vingegaard took the lead in the Tirreno-Adriatico on Friday after storming to victory in the fifth stage with a bold attack on a key climb.

The 27-year-old Visma-Lease A Bike rider finished the 144-kilometre stage over a minute ahead of the chasing pack led by Juan Ayuso to snatch the lead from Jonathan Milan.

Italian Milan led the general classification for one day after sprinting to Thursday's fourth stage.

Double Tour de France winner Vingegaard went for victory 5km from the San Giacomo summit and left his rivals for dead as he sped down the long descent.

With 28km remaining the Dane kept increasing his lead right until the moment he crossed the line in Valle Castellana, giving himself his fifth win of the season and his first ever lead in the week-long race.

Vingegaard will defend his lead in Saturday's key sixth stage, a 180km run from Sassoferrato which ends with a summit finish at Monte Petrano after a series of tough climbs.

"We always had the plan to give it a shot today and we did so," said Vingegaard.

"The team rode amazingly and I'm really happy to take the win and pay the guys back."

Double Tour de France winner Vingegaard went for victory 5km from the crucial San Giacomo summit and left his rivals for dead as he sped down the long descent.

With 28km remaining when he attacked the Dane kept increasing his lead right until the moment he crossed the line in Valle Castellana, giving himself his fifth win of the season and his first ever lead in the week-long race.

"We planned that we wanted to go full gas on the climb... The plan went perfectly and I was lucky to be able to go solo," added 27-year-old Vingegaard.

Vingegaard will defend his lead in Saturday's key sixth stage, a 180km run from Sassoferrato which ends with a summit finish at Monte Petrano after a series of tough climbs.