More rain and more crashes in Giro d’Italia stage 6 (Sassano-Montecassino, 257 km), as the race keeps dealing with tough weather condition while moving up the Italian peninsula. Today’s effort started under the sun and ended with heavy rain, but was still a shining one for Maglia Rosa Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) who managed to keep on the leader’s jersey while taking the win on the uphill finish to the Montecassino Abbey, tagged by many as too demanding for the Australian sprinter.

Among plenty of surprises in this first Giro week, Team Colombia did not let anyone down, with Fabio Duarte finishing tenth on the day to show his very good condition and restore his legitimate GC bid. “I am very happy with today’s stage – Duarte said afterwards –, and my team did a great job in setting me up in key moments. Yesterday the cold and tough weather conditions held me back on the descent, and today I demonstrated I can be competitive against the strongest men in the pack.”

The team also showed up in the day’s breakaway, started less than 10 km after the race got off in Sassano, with four men taking part in it: Rodolfo Andrès Torres, Marco Bandiera (Androni), Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani-CSF) andAndrea Fedi (Neri Sottoli-Alè). The four representatives of the Wild Card teams at the Giro opened up to a 14 minute gap before the peloton started meaning business, finally closing on the attempt with 15 km to the finish, and after more than 230 km and five hours on the go.

“We did our best – Torres explained – trying get to the finish in spite of the distance and of being only four men in the break. We opened with a big gap, but was not enough to hold off the bunch until the final climb. It did not work out today, but there’s still much Giro to race, and we will keep pursing a stage win.”

The day’s outcome was even better as none of Claudio Corti’s guys suffered any serious damage (only Jarlinson Pantano and Rodolfo Torres himself were slightly harmed in the general crash that characterized the finale, when the peloton was nearing a roundabout) at the juncture when the GC teams got in the action ahead of the decisive ascent (8,5 km, 5% average gradient).

Cadel Evans’ BMC Team was particularly active in setting up their leader, when the crash messed up the whole race situation just behind them. After Oss, Santaromita and Morabito had spent all their energies, Evans remained at the fore with Michael Matthews, Matteo Rabottini (Neri Sottoli) e Tim Wellens (Lotto Belisol), and the final sprint obviously saw the Maglia Rosa make the best of his sprinting skills.

Evans was definitely the big winner of the day though, having gained significant time on his rivals, and particularly as he made it in a medium mountain stage, earning ground on Rigoberto Uran, Nairo Quintana, whose team’s support did not look outstanding today, and Michele Scarponi. The day was even worse for Katusha’s Giampaolo Caruso and Purito Rodriguez, whose GC ambitions vanished in the dramatic crash.