Bonifazio finishes 5th in Tour Down Under 2017

Manama, Jan. 18 (BNA): In a hot summer day of Adelaide, Niccolo Bonifazio once again showed his Italian power by takingthe fifth at the first stage Tour Down Under, the good result also puts the 23-year-old into the white jersey for BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling Team tomorrow. He now ranked third at the youngrider classification. "The race today was very hot. My teammates helped me in the final, and last kilometer was reallyconfusion, I tried to follow Caleb Ewan, but it was impossible. I finished fifth," said Bonifazio after the race. "I want to try to win one stage, it's not impossible." Bonifazio showed his expectation forhis first stage race in the season. Phillipe Mauduit, our sports director said: "It was a very special day with that heat. We have 45degrees at one point during the race, organizer decided to make it shorter for one lap. I think inthis weather condition, the boy survived quite well, they drank like 200 bidons today." He thenemphasized on the performance of the team: "We have seen some team spirit in the final, weknow we will be more efficient day by day. It's the first racing day, you have to get used it alltogether, that's not so easy. But in the end it's a good result for Niccolo finished 5th." Santos Tour Down Under continues tomorrow with a 148km stage from Stirling to Paracombe, the short and sharp finish is expected to shake the overall ranking once again, and it is GiovanniVisconti's chance to fight for the ochre jersey for BAHRAIN MERIDA squad.