Brent Bookwalter got his Giro d'Italia off to the worst possible start when he crashed in the warm-up for the Giro d'Italia but he battled his way through the three weeks and today he ended it on a high. The American finished fifth in the most prestigious stage of them all: the one to the top of the feared Monte Zoncolan.

Brent Bookwalter of the BMC Racing Team made the most of his day in the breakaway Saturday at the Giro d'Italia with a fifth-place finish on Monte Zoncolan on the race's penultimate stage. Bookwalter said he overcame stomach problems and low energy at the start to join a 20-man breakaway early in the 167-kilometer race.

"I found myself in a good move and actually started riding into it and feeling better on the climb," he said. "They kept us on a pretty short lease for a long time and then it opened up and I thought maybe we had a chance to stay away going into the last climb."

Bookwalter's finish was a season best and his best in a grand tour stage since a runner-up placing on the Stage 1 individual time trial of the 2010 Giro d'Italia.

"I knew the (Zoncolan) climb from the last time," he said. "It is so hard. If you go over your limit, there is no coming back. So I just rode my own tempo and went as hard as I could."

Bookwalter finished 1:37 behind solo stage winner Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo), who was also part of the breakaway. BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans finished 33rd, 7:20 behind Rogers, and is eighth overall, 12:00 back of race leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team).