Cadel Evans survived a late scare in the windy stage 5 of the Vuelta a Espana when he managed to rejoin the front group after having been caught out in a split. With the Australian safely back in the front, BMC tried to lead Philippe Gilbert out for the sprint.

BMC Racing Team's Philippe Gilbert finished seventh Wednesday while teammates Samuel Sánchez and Cadel Evans continued their climb up the overall standings on the eve of the first major mountain stage of the Vuelta a España. Gilbert led out the uphill sprint but could not hold off the charge from behind as John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Shimano) won for the second straight day.

Evans finished 19th and Sánchez was 24th, both five seconds behind the stage winner, as each moved up one spot overall. Sánchez is 11th and Evans is 12th and both are 34 seconds off the lead of Michael Matthews (ORICA-GreenEDGE) heading into Thursday's mountain-top finish at La Zubia.

"The team was strong and did a perfect move at the end," BMC Racing Team Sport Director Valerio Piva said, "but it is hard to compete against the pure sprinters."

Evans avoided a scare earlier in the 180-kilometer stage when the peloton split as it climbed its way through narrow village roads and down a technical descent with about 40 km to go. The past Tour de France and world road champion found himself in the second group while Sánchez and at least three other BMC Racing Team riders made the front group.

"Nobody expected Tinkoff-Saxo would go full gas on the descent," Piva said. "Unfortunately, we had Cadel behind. But Garmin had Daniel Martin behind, so Cadel stayed just stayed in their wheel and the group came back. Fortunately, the gap was never more than 25 or 30 seconds."

Heading into the final kilometers, the BMC Racing Team organized a concerted lead-out for Gilbert with Manuel Quinziato and Danilo Wyss the last two to peel off the front as the past world road champion started his sprint.

"We did a pretty good lead out, but unfortunately, the pure sprinters were still there," he said. "I think we did a good try, though."

Piva said he is pleased to have more than one option for the general classification heading into the mountains.

"We have two guys who are in really good shape," he said. "We will work to keep Samuel and Cadel safe and hopefully get a good result."