ANDREW DAMPF, AP Sports Writer, PINEROLO, Italy (AP  Danilo Di Luca won the longest stage of the Giro d’Italia on Tuesday with a late solo breakaway and added to his overall lead.

The 2007 winner attacked on a short climb almost two miles from the finish of the 10th leg. With the race resuming after a rest day, Di Luca was timed in 6 hours, 30 minutes, 43 seconds over the 163-mile route from Cuneo to Pinerolo that passed through the Sestriere ski resort.

“The stage suited me,” he said. “I recuperated well on the rest day, which was important because this was a very long stage, almost like a (single-day classic).”

Lance Armstrong finished 13th, 29 seconds back. He moved up from 25th to 18th overall but his gap behind Di Luca increased to 5 minutes, 28 seconds.

Armstrong won his first mountain stage in the Tour de France in Sestriere in 1999, setting up the first of his seven consecutive Tour victories. The Texan stayed with the lead group through Sestriere this time but dropped behind on the final climb, then clawed back to limit his damages.

“His form is improving,” Di Luca said. “He set the pace for a good way up the first climb.”

Franco Pellizotti was 10 seconds Di Luca, with Denis Menchov third with the same time. Di Luca, in the pink jersey, leads Menchov by 1:20 in the overall standings. He began the day with a 13-second lead over Thomas Lovkvist, but the Swede couldn’t keep up on the last climb and dropped 1:39. Di Luca also earned a 20-second time bonus for his victory.

Di Luca’s victory celebration was muted out of respect for a 69-year-old motorcycle driver who died in a crash heading toward the start of the stage. Fabio Saccani was riding in his 32nd Giro. He also worked the Tour de France 11 times for cycling photographer Roberto Bettini.

The death came three days after Spanish rider Pedro Horillo Munoz ended up in a coma for 24 hours because of severe injuries after falling 60 yards off the side of the road.

A minute of silence will be observed for Saccani before the start Wednesday’s stage, a 133-mile relatively flat leg from Turin to Arenzano.

The race could be decided Thursday in the nearly 38-mile individual time trial along the coastal area known as Cinque Terre. The race ends May 31 in Rome.

“My goal was to enter the time trial in pink,” Di Luca said. “Now we’ve got to try and keep it.”

Defending Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre finished fourth, 10 seconds back, while contenders Levi Leipheimer and Ivan Basso came in 29 seconds after Di Luca. Leipheimer remained fourth overall, but his gap behind Di Luca stretched to 1:40. Basso is seventh, 2:03 back.

“Di Luca showed once again that he’s the strongest,” Basso said. “We’re looking ahead with confidence to the next stages but if he continues like this, it’s going to be tough. The time trial is difficult but it could suit Di Luca in this type of condition.”

The stage included a more than six-mile climb to Moncenisio followed by the even tougher seven-mile ascent to Sestriere — the Cima Coppi (Coppi Peak) dedicated to Fausto Coppi, the star Italian rider of the 1940s and ‘50s. Each year the Cima Coppi marks the highest point of the race. Sestriere is 6,677 feet above sea level.

A long descent from Sestriere preceded a short climb to Pra Martino 6½ miles before the finish, followed by an even shorter uphill stretch where Di Luca made his decisive attack.

The stage traversed the area where Alpine events for the 2006 Turin Olympics were held. The leg originally was to have followed the route that Coppi covered in a famous 119-mile solo breakaway in the 1949 Giro. But organizers changed the route last month because of snowy roads and problems with radio reception in mountains just over the French border.

Stefano Garzelli attacked on the first climb and gained a 6:25 lead over the main pack at Sestriere. ISD teammates Giovanni Visconti and Andriy Grivko joined Garzelli on the high-speed descent but the breakaway riders were caught on the climb to Pra Martino.