BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans and Ivan Santaromita successfully navigated their way through a soggy, crash-filled stage Friday at the Giro d'Italia to each climb further up the overall standings on the eve of the race's first individual time trial.

Evans finished sixth and climbed from 10th to sixth overall, 16 seconds back, while Santaromita is eighth, at 28 seconds. Benat Intxausti (Movistar Team) moved into the overall lead after several favourites hit the pavement during the 177km stage, including former maglia rosa wearer Luca Paolini (Katusha). Last year's Tour de France winner, Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling), and 2010 Giro runner-up, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team), also crashed and lost time while Evans and Santaromita finished in a group 67 seconds behind solo stage winner Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol), who was part of an original six-man breakaway. Santaromita, who finished 25th, said like the rest of the BMC Racing Team, he was doing his best to help Evans. "It was a crazy final with slippery roads and it was full gas," he commented. "On the descent, I tried to stay close to Cadel, but it was difficult. Fortunately, we didn't have any crashes."

Evans credited his teammates for helping him get through a difficult stage. "It was a real test of our team and our equipment and the guys were really good," he said. "Daniel Oss was good at the start, monitoring the dangerous breakaways, and Danilo Wyss, Steve Morabito and Steve Cummings were always there to keep me out of trouble. Then Santaromita was there in the final in case something went wrong." Evans said he does not know what to expect out of Saturday's 55km time trial. "It's a really long and really hard and demanding time trial and we really don't have a point of reference of how I am time trialing compared to the other guys," he said. "I will first of all concentrate on doing my best and, of course if I continue to move up on the general classification, that's optimal."

On a sadder note for the BMC team, Klaas Lodewyck did not start the stage after suffering from a fever for two days, BMC Racing Team Dr. Giovanni Ruffini said. "He also had an infection in his throat," Dr. Ruffini explained.

Taylor Phinney, who had also been suffering from a fever earlier this week, said he is feeling better. But the runner-up in the world time trial championships last year said like Evans, he is not sure of how he will perform in the race against the clock. "I don't really know what to expect," Phinney said. "It's quite a long time trial and also quite a hilly time trial. But there are sections where I can excel and put the power down on the flats. I don't really have huge expectations but I'm not limiting myself either."