The first week of the Giro d’Italia was beset by heavy rain, it started falling almost as soon as the team time trial got underway in Belfast and was relentless from there on.

Crashes, consequently, were an unfortunate reality of many of the stages – though the carnage that unfolded on stage six was on a whole different scale.

Already facing 247km, the brutal stage was lengthened to avoid an uncleared landslide on the original route leaving the riders facing 257 kilometres of racing.

That said, a sedate pace to the day had unfolded for much of the day – riders chatting happily in the bunch, and the day’s break being reeled in just short of the Montecassino.

A huge crash, however, which saw Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha) leave the race in an ambulance and scores of riders hit the deck created mayhem. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), a pre-race favourite, was among the victims – completing the stage but abandoning overnight as a result of his injuries.

Just eight riders avoided the mayhem, maglia rosa Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) among them.

‘Bling’ had targeted the stage pre-race and duly delivered, seizing his opportunity to outsprint Tim Wellens (Lotto-Belisol) and bag the stage win.

Fellow Aussie Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), meanwhile, made up big ground on his GC rivals as the overall classification was given a big – and unexpected – shake-up.