Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins lost 84 seconds to his closest Giro d’ Italia rivals after crashing on Friday while Spain’s Benat Intxausti became overall leader and Australian Adam Hansen won stage seven with a 147km breakaway.

Wiggins, already briefly dropped on a late climb, skidded and fell heavily on a rain-soaked bend in the Abruzzi hills about six km from the finish in the coastal town of Pescara, losing contact with the group of overall favourites.

The Briton, despite support from his Colombian team mates Sergio Henao and Rigobert Uran to try and reduce the gap, crossed the line in 55th place, two minutes and 31 seconds adrift of Hansen and 1:24 behind the main group of leaders.

Six riders broke away off the front during the 177km stage from San Salvo to Pescara, but were later reduced to two – Hansen and Italian Emanuele Sella. The Australian eventually dropped Sella and stayed out in front.

Wiggins, one of the leading pre-race favourites, dropped from sixth to 23rd overall and is 1:32 behind Intxausti on the eve of a 54.8km time trial in which the 2012 Tour de France winner is top favourite and widely expected to take the lead.

Overnight leader Luca Paolini of Italy dropped back on the final, fourth category San Silvestro climb, leaving Intxausti to take over as leader for the first time in a major Tour race.

Other top riders who fell on a difficult day through the low-lying mountains of the Abruzzi region included Italian favourite Vincenzo Nibali.

Hansen, whose grandparents immigrated to Australia to work in the sugar cane industry in Queensland, crossed the line for the stage victory in 4 hours, 35.49 seconds.

Italy’s Enrico Battaglin finished the stage in second behind Hansen with compatriot Danilo Di Luca in third.

Intxausti crossed the line with the chasing group in 14th to take the overall race pink jersey.