Floris Gerts of the BMC Racing Team finished ninth Wednesday to remain third overall at the Aviva Tour of Britain after teammate Danilo Wyss was part of the day's breakaway.

Gerts said he did his best to be a part of the bunch sprint finish that was won by Fernando Gaviria (Etixx-Quick Step) ahead of André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal).

"I think that is good for the coming races and I like to sprint and to ride the final," Gerts said. "I was really well-position in the last kilometer, but then I was a little surprised with the corner with 500 meters to go. I was a bit blocked, but a top 10 is an improvement because I have not been in the top 10 here yet. So that is good."

Gerts, who is one of three stagiaires who joined the BMC Racing Team last month, is 12 seconds off the overall lead of Juan José Lobato (Movistar Team) with four stages to go. BMC Racing Team's Dylan Teuns – who finished 10th overall here a year ago – is in 11th, 22 seconds back.

Wyss and two others from what was once a six-rider breakaway were only caught in the last 20 kilometers of the 217.4-km race, the second-longest longest of the race. The Swiss national road champion said losing half the manpower of the escape with 40 km still to go proved costly.

"With only three guys, it was really hard," Wyss said. "We had a bit of headwind and it was still a long ways to go. We gave everything. But to go all the way to the finish, we would have needed three more good guys."