Giro d'Italia 2014 - Stage 6

Drama hit the Giro d'Italia on stage six, which was a long, painful day of 257 kilometres from Sassano to Montecassino. It was a flat day right up until the final climb, where it was likely we would see the peloton attack each other. Diego Ulissi was a favourite to make it two from two after his impressive victory in front of Cadel Evans on stage five.

A breakaway went up the road, containing Marco Bandiera (Androni Giocattoli), Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani-CSF), Andrea Fedi of Neri Sottoli and Rodolfo Torres of Team Colombia. The peloton weren't too keen on racing quickly for the early part of the race, and their lead quickly extended to ten minutes, reaching a maximum of fourteen, a sizeable gap.

Team Sky, Orica-GreenEDGE and Movistar all worked to control the break under sunshine that had greeted the peloton in Sassano. It wasn't until the last thirty kilometres that clouds gathered and rain started to fall, making the slick Italian roads ominously greasy. The break were reeled in with twelve kilometres to go, and the speed of the peloton increased as the tussle for the bottom of the climb commenced.

Then the drama occurred, near the base of the climb two massive crashes had swathes of the peloton downon the ground. Giampaolo Caruso was worst off, he didn't get up until he was stretchered into an ambulance. He had fallen heavy on his hip, and teammate Angel Vicioso broke his femur in three places. Their leader Joaquim Rodriguez would go on to lose seven minutes, abandoning the race that night with two broken ribs and a broken finger.

A small group weren't delayed by the crash, and they pushed on without the majority of the peloton. Cadel Evans was in the first group, along with the maglia rosa Michael Matthews, who was climbing extremely well behind his senior compatriot. Nairo Quintana was delayed, and he and Rigoberto Uran were in the main peloton with their teams chasing.

It wasn't to be for them however, the Evans group would contest the win. It was a no-brainer who would win at the finish, Michael Matthews was easily the fastest finisher, and he won atop the climb in Montecassino. Evans finished third, while Quintana and Uran both lost nearly a minute. Nicolas Roche of Tinkoff-Saxo lost fifteen minutes, and Julian Arredondo's general classification hopes were dashed after he lost twenty minutes.

The debate as to whether Evans should have waited raged on for days, but one thing was clear after the stage, it was first blood to the experienced Australian.