Several days ago Julian Arredondo said that his dream was to win today's stage of the Giro d'Italia and his Trek team took the responsibility to chase down the early break. It wasn't to be though for the punchy Colombian who was one of several riders to hit the deck.

Today's stage six finish on the Montecassino climb (8.6 kilometers and 5.1%) was not the ending that Trek Factory expected. Rain, once again, made the Italian roads like ice, and a large crash in a roundabout 10 kilometers from the finish – and one kilometer from the start of the climb - had numerous riders hit the tarmac. Julian Arredondo was part of the carnage, ending his chance to contest the uphill battle after finishing third in yesterday’s similar finish.

“It was chaos – mechanics were running over each other to assist their riders, and everyone was stopped for three to four minutes," Demol said. "We started the race under nice weather but then at the end - rain again! Iit’s like it must rain everyday here in the Giro. And the roads here are so slippery... even the mechanics that were running to help their riders were falling!”

The sixth stage, already the longest of the tour, was extended another 10 kilometers to avoid an earlier landslide, making the 257-kilometer affair a lengthy day in the saddle. As a result, there was little concern for the four-man escape group that exited the peloton early.

Trek Factory Racing moved to the front with 40 kilometers remaining to assist in whittling down the time gap to the four leaders. The team was pulling, Arredondo was primed to better his third place of yesterday, and all was going according to the team’s plan. When the breakaway was absorbed 12 kilometers from the finish, the speed increased in the peloton as the decisive Montecassino lie just ahead.

Then everything blew apart. The slick roads caused a gigantic crash through a roundabout. Most of the peloton was affected, and by the time everything was up and running again, the damage was insurmountable for many.

“Many, many teams had bad luck today, and we, too, had a part of that. In the last 30-40K we helped to take the race in hand, we were pulling, and we were all in good position. And then the massive crash. I am not sure how many went down, but our guy for the day, Julian [Arredondo], crashed and his bike was broken. His race was over.

“The team has been riding so well, and we have already been three times in the top three; that has given everyone a lot of confidence. The team plan today was to ride for Julian again, and the team had protected him all day. He even said in the radio that he felt good...but that’s how it is. I believe today he would have been really close for the victory. It’s just bad luck.”

BMC and Orica GreenEdge were two of the fortunate teams: BMC’s GC leader Cadel Evans and maglia rosa clad Michael Matthews emerged unscathed ahead of the crash in a small group. They rode a hard pace to the top where Michael Matthews won the sprint, and Cadel Evans’ third place moved him into second overall.

Behind a large group, including Robert Kiserlovski, chased hard. At one point Kiserlovski tried to minimize the damage by attacking, but to no avail: at the finish the GC contenders had lost 49 seconds to one of the overall favorites, Cadel Evans.

“I was in the middle of the crash and somehow I did not go down," Kiserlovski said. "I was one centimeter from [Giampaolo] Caruso – I was lucky. But I did not panic. I just slowed, and did not brake hard - that way even if I did crash, at least I don't crash hard. Unlike yesterday, with the late puncture, I had the luck on my side today.”