Ben O'Connor has delivered another outstanding performance to boost his hopes of a podium finish at the Giro d'Italia, but the Australian's effort was overshadowed by Tadej Pogačar.

O'Connor tried to hang on for all he was worth on the summit finish of the eighth stage at Prato di Tivo, finishing third behind Pogačar, who sprinted away to claim another victory in the opening eight days of the race.

In the toughest stage so far in the Apennines, with a 14-kilometre category-one ascent to finish, Pogačar looked as if he could have picked his moment even earlier to attack, but was happy to wait until well within the last kilometre to burst away.

The two-time Tour de France winner still had a big enough gap to raise his arms in triumph at the finish line, with the bonus seconds for victory now extending his commanding lead over Colombian Dani Martinez to two minutes and 40 seconds.

Geraint Thomas is now 2:58 adrift in third place, while Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale's O'Connor is fourth, 3:39 behind UAE Team Emirates rider Pogačar.

"I'm really happy with how the stage went today," O'Connor said.

"As a team, we were super strong and I was surrounded all the time by the boys.

"I laid it all down for the sprint at the end, took the wheel of Martinez and tried to see if I'd come around.

"Third is a good result in a mountain-top finish in the Giro, so, hopefully, I can go one better the next time."

The brutal finale made it a particularly tough day for Australia's 23-year-old national road race champion Luke Plapp, who suffered in the mountains to traipse home some 20 minutes behind and lose the white jersey as the race's top young rider.

Plapp is now out of contention for that prize, dropping down to 11th overall in the category and plummeting to 32nd overall.

But another Australian enjoyed a notable day of success with Tudor Pro's Michael Storer joining the breakaway and then hanging in tough to finish ninth on the stage, just 13 seconds behind Pogačar .

Storer is 12th in the overall standings.

AAP