Martin Kohler got a rare chance to ride for himself in the sprint on stage 4 of the USA Pro Challenge and he came close to victory by taking second. Being up against a pure sprinter like Elia Viviani, however, he admitted that the Italian had been a lot faster.

Tejay van Garderen of the BMC Racing Team kept the overall lead of the USA Pro Challenge Thursday while teammate Martin Kohler sprinted to a runner-up finish and his best result of the season.

Kohler overtook Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly Pro Cycling) – who finished third – and Ty Magner (Hincapie Sportswear Development), but could not close the gap to stage winner Elia Viviani (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at the end of the 113-kilometer circuit race through Colorado Springs.

"With 200 meters left, I wanted to go, but hesitated a bit and then Viviani came by 10 kilometers an hour faster than me," Kohler said.

The past Swiss national road and time trial champion, said he was originally focused solely on riding in service of van Garderen and keeping a breakaway of 11 riders in check.

"Until a lap to go, I was only thinking of doing my job for Tejay," he said. "But we didn't have to do anything on the middle two laps, so I saved a bit to try something in the sprint."

Van Garderen said he enjoyed a surprisingly stress-free stage in his first day as race leader. The top of the overall standings remained unchanged with three days to go: van Garderen leads Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) by 20 seconds and BMC Racing Team's Ben Hermans is third, a further three seconds back.

"It seemed like everything went 100 percent right," said the race's defending champion. "We were able to control the start and let a break roll and then the sprinter's teams took over. We got to sit on wheels all day, so it was a perfect scenario.

"The day went perfect, in team meeting we went through all the scenarios of what could go wrong, and it seemed everything went right. We were able to get a group off the front without anyone threatening on GC and we were able to just sit in, and even let the breakaway win."

BMC Racing Team Sport Director Jackson Stewart said it was nice to see the team earn its fourth consecutive podium finish of the race.

"It was also good that Martin got rewarded with a podium finish out of it," Stewart said. "He is a guy who is always working unselfishly for our team leader."