In the past edition, the Stirling hill was the scene of a big win for Diego Ulissi and Lampre-Merida. Today, the same arrival selected the bunch in a lighter way and it was conquered by Juan Jose Lobato who can combine speed with climbing legs.

The classification of the 2nd stage of Tour Down Under (Unley-Stirling, 150,5 km) confirmed that this arrival is suitable for this kind of athletes, considering the 2nd place of Impey, the 3rd place of Izaguirre, the 4th place of Dumoulin and the 5th place of Evans. However, there was one pleasant exception: the 8th position of Niccolò Bonifazio, a pure sprinter that was able to realize a good performance on the Stirling hill.

In the overall classification, Bonifazio is 6th, 13" behindBobridge and he's the leader of the young riders' ranking.

"I really appreciated the way the team raced: we demonstrated to be united and we gave a perfect support to Bonifazio," sports director Bruno Vicino explained. "Niccolò did a good performance, on a hill that was not completely suitable for his skills as a pure sprinter. Considering his age and his characteristics compared to the opponents, he did really well."