Stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia was a tumultuous affair, with record speeds and multiple crashes and echelons, and teams like Australia's Mitchelton Scott warily assessing both the damage and positive takeaways of the day.

On the definitive downside, sporting director Matt White told reporters that Italian all-rounder and domestique Edoardo Affini was injured and could be on his way home early. He also acknowledged in a team report that Czech Tour winner Damien Howson was injured in a crash with Lucas Hamilton.

"There were a lot of crashes and some players were nervous. We will have to wait for the medical team to make a decision on what the final outcome will be," White said in a team statement.

Hamilton and Simon Yates were caught behind the echelon after the crash.

On a day when the speed in the first hour was 55 km/h, all the riders who slowly boarded Mitchelton Scott's bus experienced considerable tension and intense racing at the halfway point between these two points.

"Several riders were involved in a crash that split the pack. Once he got back to the lead group, everything was under control," White said. [Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Rafal Mayka (Bora-Hansgrohe), Pero Bilbao (Bahrain McLaren), and Domenico Pozzovivo (NTT Pro Cycling) were separated from the group in the early stages. As soon as the pack regrouped mid-stage, more crashes and echelons occurred, leaving riders injured and fighting their way back to the lead group for almost the entire ride to Brindisi.

In the case of Mitchelton Scott, White said, "Affini is going to have to come out of the race with a broken hand.

The Australian team already has a hole in its lineup after Brent Bookwalter missed Thursday's start due to a suspected lumbar fracture from a stage 2 crash.

White said he was relieved to see Yates' group back in the pack despite the amount of damage done by Mitchelton Scott's team officials.

"Lucas Hamilton (currently 17th overall) was involved in another crash and that was the last group. There were so many crashes, I don't remember where he crashed, but he came back and finished in the lead group," White said.

"Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. We may have lost some guys to injury today, but in the end we seem to be where we need to be with the two most important riders on GC."

White said that given that the team is not leading in the overall standings, "people are not going to expect us to do anything right now." For Simon, the biggest help in the mountains will be Hamilton and (Jack) Haig.

"So it would be a shame to lose someone, but obviously there are some players who play a different role than others and we have to adjust our tactics accordingly."

Mitchelton-Scott was not the only rider involved in a crash on stage 7, as GC fourth-place finisher Haan Vanhocke (Lotto-Soudal) and seventh-place finisher Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) were also involved in pile-ups.

Other stars such as Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Ilnur Zakarin (CCC Team) struggled to regain contact after a multiple crash involving a banner 45 km from the finish.

Mitchelton Scott was not the only team to suffer abandonment. Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale) broke his left wrist and finished last, 21 minutes behind.