Ben Hermans enjoyed his best career finish in a WorldTour stage race Saturday by finishing third at the Tour de Pologne for the BMC Racing Team.

Hermans placed 11th in the 25-kilometer individual time trial that capped the seven-stage race. More importantly, he was only three seconds off the time of overall winner Jon Izagirre, (Movistar Team), who was two seconds faster than runner-up Bart De Clercq (Lotto Soudal).

"Finally, I am on the podium at a WorldTour race," Hermans said, "but it is disappointing because I was only three seconds from the victory. But that is racing."

Hermans climbed into fourth overall on Thursday on the strength of a fifth-place result in an uphill finish. Friday, he finished seventh and was within 14 seconds of the overnight race leader, Sergio Henao (Team Sky). Henao finished 48th in Saturday's time trial and dropped to eighth overall. Polish national team member Marcin Bialoblocki took the time trial stage win.

Sport Director Fabio Baldato said Hermans's result brought a mix of emotions.

"On one hand, we are really disappointed to lose a really hard race by three seconds," he said. "To watch the time trial today and only be three seconds behind was really hard. But we are also happy for Ben. Our objective going in was a top five finish because we knew Ben was good. So we are satisfied enough. We had strong teamwork all week and the guys were good."

Hermans has enjoyed a wide range of success in his second season with the BMC Racing Team. In April, he soloed to victory at Brabantse Pijl, then repeated that feat on the final stage of the Tour de Yorkshire in May. Last month, he was runner-up at the Tour of Austria after finishing second on one stage and third on another.

"I am going to keep trying to get better from here," Hermans said. "I would still like to do a big victory. But winning two races and then having the podium in Austria and now being on the podium here is not so bad."