Marcus Burghardt (BMC) may be known as a classics specialist but in the Volta a Catalunya he is showing new sides of his talents. For the second day in a row he mixed it up in the bunch sprint to secure a good car position for his team in the mountain stages and he did impressively well by coming away with fifth.

BMC Racing Team's Marcus Burghardt scored his second straight top 10 finish Tuesday at Volta a Catalunya, finishing fifth in the bunch sprint and moving into seventh overall. Traveling from Mataró to Girona, the 168-kilometer route included two categorized climbs in the first half and one uncategorized ascent in the final 10 km.

Six riders took off from the start and spent the next three-and-a-half hours racing through rain and wind. Within 25 km of the finish, Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) ventured off from the escape group and held back the charging pack until being caught with 5 km to go.

Luka Mezgec (Team Giant-Shimano) won his second straight stage to keep the overall lead. Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida) was runner-up, ahead of Daniele Ratto (Cannondale Pro Cycling). Burghardt's fifth-place result added to a seventh-place finish on Stage 1 and moved him into seventh overall, 20 seconds back from Mezgec

"It was a pretty controlled stage today," Burghardt said. "It was pretty cold in the last 40 or 50 kilometers so it was important to stay warm. With our Pearl Izumi rain coasts, they helped us to stay in good condition and keep our body warm.

"In the end, it was a bit tricky with some roundabouts. I tried to stay in font and managed this pretty well. To go for the win, I missed a little bit of speed. But to get fifth is already a good result for me."

"It was cold, a bit windy and rainy," sports director Yvon Ledanois said. "So it was hard. But for us, it was a good day. It was a good sprint with Marcus, which was important for the car position. Tomorrow is the first stage for the GC and I have trust in Samuel Sánchez and Tejay van Garderen for a good result."

The first of two straight summit finishes features three categorized climbs in 162.9 kms. The Alt de La Creueta is the longest, spanning 21 km with an average grade of 4.5 percent before the climb to the finish in La Molina, a 5.3-km ascent with a six percent gradient.

You can read our preview of stage three here and follow our live coverage at 15.15 CET on CyclingQuotes.com/live.