Cadel Evans and the BMC team stayed very attentive in today's windy third stage of the Giro d'Italia and the 2011 Tour champion leaves Ireland as one of the big winners of the opening part of the race. The Australian is pleased to leave Ireland with a bit of an advantage over most of his GC rivals.

The BMC Racing Team kept Cadel Evans out of danger during Sunday's rain-soaked stage of the Giro d'Italia that ended with a bunch sprint. Marcel Kittel (Team Giant-Shimano) nipped Ben Swift (Team Sky) to earn his second consecutive stage win. Elia Viviani (Cannondale Pro Cycling) was third as Michael Matthews (ORICA-GreenEDGE) retained the overall lead.

Evans finished 53rd, 11 seconds back of the winning time, as a split in the peloton occurred after the 32nd rider. With the first of three rest days ahead Monday, Evans sits 14th overall, 21 seconds off the lead.

"Overall, I am happy to get through Ireland without any big problems," Evans said. "We lost a couple seconds in the final in the past two days, which is a little bit unusual. But the way the finishes were, made it a little bit difficult to be safe and be in front. But that's the way it goes."

BMC Racing Team President/General Manager Jim Ochowicz, who rode in the team car during the three stages in Northern Ireland, said the squad has performed to pre-race expectations.

"We had a good team time trial and Cadel is in a reasonably good position coming out of here time-wise, with the other general classification riders," he said. "The other two stages here were really going to be sprinter stages and we knew that. It was about safety and coming out of here whole and we were able to do that. So we've met our goals in Ireland. Now we'll see how it goes in Italy."

Inside the last 20 kilometers, the BMC Racing Team was regularly visitble near the front. The last of a five-man breakaway was brought back with seven kilometers left. Danilo Wyss – one of the riders shielding Evans from the wind –  said the conditions made it a hard day.

"It was wet, rainy and cold," he said. "It was a really nervous day, with wet roads and some crashes. But it's a good start. We had a good team trial and not too much trouble in two days. Now we're ready to go to Italy and hope for some better weather."