The BMC Racing Team finished 12th in the team time trial Sunday at the Giro d'Italia, 37 seconds off the winning time by Sky Procycling in the 17.4 kilometre race against the clock.

The middle-of-the-bunch performance more than half a minute down on Team Sky did cause concern in the American team, however.

BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Max Sciandri said the stage was won or lost on the hillier sections. "There were climbs of eight, nine or 10 percent," he explained on the team website. "I think if you look at the winning team, it is more of an imprint of a climber team. We had some really good guys who can go on the flats like a regular time trial. But we struggled a little bit with some guys on the climbs. But I don't think we could have given anything more."

Cadel Evans, winner of the points classification at the 2010 Giro, agreed. "We had a lot of sprinter kind of guys and roulers, which normally in a team time trial is great," he said. "But this course was particularly hilly. Thirty-seven seconds is a little bit below what I had hoped or expected, but that's the way it is. The guys put in everything. Someone like Klaas Lodewyck – he really gave it absolutely everything he had today, so I'm certainly not going to ask anything more of him. That's the way it is. We'll keep going from here."