Western district cycling star Lucas Hamilton has moved into the top 20 of the Giro d'Italia after the monster stage up Sicily's Mount Etna

Hamilton, who rides for the Australian-owned BikeExchange team is 18^th overall after finishing in a bunch just 2 minutes and 37 seconds behind the race winner Lennard Kamna who held on in a sprint finish from Juan Pedro Lopez after the two emerged from a 14-man breakaway.

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Pedro Lopez's finish moved him into the race lead with Hamilton, who is riding as domestique for Briton Simon Yates, who is fourth overall, just 2 minutes and 27 seconds behind.

Headlining the stage was a motorbike which caused a crash bringing multiple riders to the ground in the early phases of the stage.

The vehicle belonged to the race convoy and was moving up alongside the peloton when it clipped a piece of roadside furniture.

The race began in Budapest on Friday May 6 and finds its way around the boot of Italy across 21 stages before crossing the finish line in Verona on Sunday May 29.

Giro d'Italia is one of the most prestigious in the world along with the Tour de France and Tour of Spain.

Ahead of the event Ararat District Cycling Club president Bruce Hamilton said his son Lucas was "feeling good" about his team's chances.

"He looks quite well and he has a lot of training done up in the Alps so he is as good as he can be prepared," Hamilton said.

Hamilton said the race was wide open a dozen riders who were capable of winning.

"Once you get on the grand tours everyone can and wants to win it," he said.

"He (Lucas Hamilton) has always played the leadership role but he he has ended up supporting Simon Yates.

"Simon (Yates) has demonstrated the form he needs to win it and Luke (Hamilton) has has demonstrated that he can go with him, so you never know."

Hamilton said he would be more than happy to see his son be able to finish the three-week long race, after a tough road with setbacks.

"Every time he gets up to a point where he can demonstrate his ability he hasn't had much luck because of things outside of his control," he said.

"He has had a bit of a rough trot because he crashed out of the Tour de France last year and then he had to pull out of another race due to a virus.

"Shortly after they were doing a race in Valencia in Spain and had to pull out of that because half of his team got COVID-19 then a week after he caught COVID-19 himself."

Hamilton was fresh off a terrifying crash off a road barrier during the stage five of the Itzulia Basque Country race, which resulted in him losing a tooth and sustaining a fracture in his jaw.

"He is all good now, he only missed about a week, he is pretty happy because it could have been much worse," Bruce Hamilton said.

"He admits himself they were all going too fast down but by the time he realised the problem it was too late.

"When you are doing 100km per hour it's pretty hard to pull up."

Hamilton said he would be cheering on Lucas from Ararat as the communication dries up in the lead up to races.

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"We wished him all the best a couple of days ago," he said.

"Once they get racing they don't get much rest, ever bit of rest they can get is a benefit.

"It's all about racing and then resting."

The 2022 Giro d'Italia is broadcast live in Australia on SBS.

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