A huge crash with 6 km to the finish line of the final stage of the Santos Tour Down Under in Adelaide (90 km) ruined all chances for Tiago Machado to hold onto his 8th place in general classification of the race.

The crash, just before the start of the final lap, cut half of the peloton, including some Katusha riders, from the head of the group.

"The crash happened more or less with 6 km to go, when the peloton already started its preparation for the bunch sprint. Tiago tried to come back immediately, but in few seconds he’s got a flat tire and was forced to lose a lot of time. The team did all possible to bring him back in the pack, Sergey Lagutin and Giampaolo Caruso were close to Tiago to help him, but it was impossible to return in front. Unfortunately, a fatal bad luck did not allow us to save a place in top-10 of general classification, however the team spent a very good and strong week in Adelaide," said sports director of Team Katusha Gennady Mikhaylov.

Only Rudi Selig and Alexey Tsatevich, who already were present in the first positions of the peloton for their sprint, were not involved in the crash. Finally, Selig became 9th in the bunch sprint won by Wouter Wippert from Drapac. The second place was for Heinrich Haussler from IAM Cycling, third for Boris Vallée from Lotto Soudal.

Rohan Dennis from BMC became the overall winner of the Tour Down Under. Richie Porte from Sky took second (+0.02), while Cadel Evans from BMC completed the all-Australian podium with a third place (+0.20).

Tiago Machado finished 12th overall (+2.00), Sergey Lagutin was placed 25th (+4.19).