Silvan Dillier continued his amazing neo-pro season when he sprinted to ninth in the Vattenfall Cyclassics to score his first WorldTour points. The Swiss admitted to have started his sprint too early but remained satisfied with the outcome.

Silvan Dillier added to his list of top 10 finishes with ninth place Sunday in the bunch sprint that capped the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Downtown Hamburg. Dillier was actually in front with only a few hundred meters to go, but could not hold off the charge from behind as Alexander Kristoff (Katusha Team) took the win ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) and Simon Gerrans (ORICA-GreenEDGE).

"I went a little bit too early but I had a good moment, so I tried to take advantage of it," Dillier said. "If I had just stayed on the wheel in front of me, I probably would have had to brake and then I would have lost some positions. But in the end, the team did a good job for me until the final kilometer and that was most important."

BMC Racing Sport Director Max Sciandri said Eneco Tour of Benelux stage winner Greg Van Avermaet also played a key role near the end of the 247.2-kilometer race.

"We wanted Greg to really fight hard on the climb and that's what he did," Schiandri said. "He kind of broke it up a bit before the bunch sprint."

Dillier's top 10 result was his 16th of the season.