For BMC, today's fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia was always going to be all about survival but things only got more tricky when wet roads made it very slippery in the finale. With time gaps neutralized, however, the team got safely through and are now ready to see how Cadel Evans performs in tomorrow's first small uphill finish.

The return of the Giro d'Italia to its homeland Tuesday was marked by short stage featuring rain at the start, a neutralization by race leader Michael Matthews (ORICA-GreenEDGE) and an eventual sprint finish.

The first three days of the race in Northern Ireland were also marked by rainy conditions. But Matthews said he saw things differently as the 112-kilometer stage steadily rolled 45.8 km from Giovinazzo to Bari, where seven of the eight laps of an 8.2-km circuit were completed in parade-like fashion.

"We decided to neutralize the race, just for our safety," Matthews said. "Ireland is different. Their country and roads are used to the rain. Here in the south of Italy, they don't get much rain here. So the roads and the city aren't used to these weather conditions. So it made sense to go neutral for the race."

Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr.) won ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) and Tom Veelers (Team Giant-Shimano).

BMC Racing Team's Manuel Quinziato said riders were concerned about the wet conditions.

"Here it doesn't rain that often and when it rains, it is very slippery. It was a hard decision not to race. I told them to keep going. Then, when the decision arrived the race would be neutralized until the last lap, everybody had more legs. So we kept the position and the sprinters did their job in the last lap."

Daniel Oss, who sits in third place overall, 10 seconds off the lead, was the BMC Racing Team's best finisher in 27th place. Teammate Cadel Evans remained in 14th place overall, at 21 seconds.