Cameron Meyer may have taken the stage win but the happiest man after the second stage of the Tour de Suisse was Larry Warbasse (BMC). The American was beaten into third in the sprint but having just had bad news about potential contracts for the future, he was pleased to prove that he deserves his place on the WorldTour.

Larry Warbasse sprinted to a career-best third-place finish for the BMC Racing Team Sunday after being part of the day's breakaway on a damp stage of the Tour de Suisse. Warbasse led out a three-up sprint at the end of the 182-kilometer race. But he could not hold off stage winner Cameron Meyer (ORICA-GreenEDGE) and runner-up Philip Deignan (Team Sky). The peloton arrived 14 seconds later, with BMC Racing Team's Silvan Dillier finishing sixth.

"I could not have asked for very much more," Warbasse said. "I was coming in off two poor races and I had some not-so-great news about my potential contracts. So I really wanted to show today that I deserved to be here. This is one of the biggest races I have ever done in my life. I would have loved to have won, but I still couldn't be much happier."

Warbasse was rewarded for his efforts with the "most aggressive rider honors" on the stage.

"There is one person that I could not have done this ride without, and that is my coach, Bobby Julich," Warbasse said. "He has believed in me through the good and the bad over the past two years and given me the confidence to believe in myself and that I was capable of a ride like today and much more."

Warbasse and five others shook free from the peloton after 15 kilometers. Summiting three major mountain passes, the escape group enjoyed a lead of more than five minutes at one point. But rain and fog made the descent off the final climb of the Grimselpass a bit treacherous, Warbasse said, and reduced the breakaway's advantage.

"That was scary," Warbasse said. "I was a little bit worried in the downhill because it was dangerous. It was very hard to see with the fog. But luckily, everyone took it very safely."

BMC Racing Team Sport Director Fabio Baldato said Warbasse's attacks to reduce the group to three were impressive.

"He rode conservatively to save his energy for the final and we saw on the last climb he was strongest in the break," Baldato said. "And behind, all the rest of the team was sitting on the wheels of the chasers the last 20 kilometers. They made kind of a block to make sure the chase lost motivation."

Stage 1 time trial winner Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) kept the overall lead.