It was  dramatic sprint in stage four of the Tour Down Under. 100m from the finish in Mount Barker, a big crash split the peloton, leaving only 10 riders to battle it out for the win. In spite of the confusion caused by the crash, Niccolo Bonifazio was able to finished the race in 6th place, the best result for an Italian rider. 

"Having avoided being involved in the crash is already a good result," said Bonifazio. "That said, of course I would have preferred to be able to express myself in a more regular sprint, but they crashed just next to me and I hesitated for a moment, losing that split second that I had to chase. Too bad as the team had worked very well, both during the stage and in the final, with Cimolai to being the perfect lead-out man."

Sports director Bruno Vicino was satisfied with the performance of Lampre-Merida.

"We moved well, the boys have done what I asked from them. We made a contribution to the chase of the break which was in danger of getting too much advantage as Giant-Alpecin was not interested in a sprint as Kittel was not on a good day. In the sprint, Cimolai did a great job to put Bonifazio in the best position. The sprint was then little a bit irregular but luckily the crash did not involve us."