Damiano Caruso of the BMC Racing Team rode to a season-best third-place finish Thursday at the Tour de Romandie.

Caruso followed the wheel of race leader and eventual stage winner Michael Albasini (ORICA-GreenEDGE) in the final kilometer of the 172.5-km race to secure his best result since joining the BMC Racing Team.

"I am happy and I am also happy for the team," Caruso said. "Everybody did a good job, especially in the final of the race. I tried to do a good sprint.I think my condition is good and I am feeling good about the upcoming stages and for the Giro d'Italia."

Albasini won his second straight stage as Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quick Step) was runner-up. Caruso was sixth on Stage 2 after the BMC Racing Team opened the six-day race in the country of its title sponsor, BMC Switzerland, with sixth place in the team time trial on Tuesday.

Before the bunch sprint finish Thursday, BMC Racing Team's Danilo Wyss twice went on the attack in the last 15 kilometers while teammates Darwin Atapuma and Stefan Küng also followed a pair of attacks. While none of the moves succeeded, Sport Director Max Sciandri said he liked the display of aggression.

"They had two options: play it for the sprint or look out for moves in the last 15 or 20 kilometers," Sciandri said. "And that is what they did. They kind of looked after moves and Damiano ended up doing the sprint. This puts him a little bit closer to the general classification and gives everybody morale. The team is moving well. When you move well like that, sooner or later something good happens."

Caruso, in 13th place, is the team's best-placed rider overall, 35 seconds off the lead. Rohan Dennis (19th, at 39 seconds) and Atapuma (20th, at 39 seconds) are the other two BMC Racing Team riders in the top 20.