Matthew Lloyd romps to first ever Grand Tour stage win in Giro

AUSTRALIA'S Matthew Lloyd notched up the biggest victory of his career to date with a storming victory in stage six of the Giro d'Italia.

BIG WIN: Matthew Lloyd of Australia clinches first Grand Tour win of his career with victory in stage six of the Giro d'Italia

The 26-year-old, who rides for Omega Pharma-Lotto, along with Rubens Bertogliati of Switzerland, made a break after just 30km of the 170km and could not be caught with Lloyd finishing 66 seconds ahead of his rival.

Lloyd's victory is his first ever in a Grand Tour and his first stage win in Europe for four years while Liquigas rider Vincenzo Nibali held onto the leader's maglia rosa, finishing safely in the peleton.

He pulled clear of Bertogliati by making his break just before the third and final category climb and eased to victory with the Swiss happy to settle for second.

The peleton, led by Alessandro Petacchi of Italy, finished nine seconds behind Bertogliati as for the second consecutive stage, the bunch could not catch the breakaway group.

Meanwhile, Bradley Wiggins' poor fortune continued in Italy as he suffered another minor crash early on before recovering to finish in the peleton.

In the general classification standings, it's a case of as you were with Liquigas trio Nibali, Ivan Basso and Valerio Agnoli leading the way.

Basso stays at 13 seconds with Agnoli a further seven seconds off the pace as the peleton makes the 215km trip from Carrar to Montacino.