BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans earned his fifth career podium result at a Grand Tour with third place overall Sunday at the Giro d'Italia.

Evans added to his 2011 Tour de France victory, runner-up finishes at the Tour in 2007 and 2008 and a third-place at the Vuelta a España in 2009 by finishing 5’52” behind winner Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and runner-up Rigoberto Urán (Sky), who was 4’43” back of Nibali.

"Like I said from the first day, I came here to recover the days of racing I lost last year to illness and to get back to my best," Evans said. "Not looking at results, but in terms of objectives to work for, it was really successful. To be on the podium for what was, in some ways, just a training ride, is something." The past world road champion said the back luck he had with a technical issue on the penultimate stage – which dropped him from second to third – did not completely spoil an otherwise productive three weeks. "I hope people enjoyed it," Evans said. "My main thing was to give it my maximum. And I did that. I had a couple of little errors, little mistakes – things I couldn't have anticipated. That happens. In the end, my goal was achieved to give my maximum and the fact that I'm on the podium has been good."

BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Fabio Baldato said the squad's other eight riders – six of whom finished – were singularly focused on helping Evans achieve his eighth top-five finish at a Grand Tour and better his fifth place at the Giro in 2010. "This is really amazing," Baldato said. "It was our goal from the beginning of the Giro and we believed in him. Not everyone was 100 percent convinced we could do it. From the first stage, Cadel was always focused on getting time that could make the difference. The team, day-by-day, understood that he was strong and rallied around him to become stronger. For me, that was the biggest satisfaction."