Peter Stetina has got his first chance to lead BMC in a major stage race at this year's Tour of California and yesterday he performed well in the queen stage to move into the top 10. He was impressed by race leader Bradley Wiggins who rode 8km on the front into a stiff headwind, setting a hard tempo that made it impossible to attack.

Peter Stetina of the BMC Racing Team climbed his way into the top 10 Tuesday at the Amgen Tour of California with a seventh-place finish on the summit finish at Mount Diablo State Park. Stetina was among a group of 11 riders that fought it out in the final kilometer of the 174.6-km race that featured warm temperatures for the second straight day.

Stage winner Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) attacked in the last 300 meters to finish six seconds ahead of Tiago Machado (Team NetApp-Endura) and eight seconds ahead of Lawson Craddock (Team Giant-Shimano). Stetina arrived 14 seconds off the winning time and six seconds ahead of Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) who kept the overall lead.

Stetina rode much of the final climb in the shadow of the 2012 Tour de France winner.

"I didn't want to sacrifice my position on Wiggins' wheel," Stetina said. "That's a coveted spot. I just blew up at the end. I misjudged how long that final kick would take after 40 minutes of climbing."

Stetina said the BMC Racing Team did "an amazing job" of delivering him to the base of the mountain in optimum position.

"I was the first one onto the climb, I was first in the position battle," he said. "I was always in the front and then on the climb, once Wiggins took over, it a pretty stiff tempo, even though it was a headwind. I felt like I was suffering enough that I didn't want to give up my spot. It ended up being a tactical climb."

BMC Racing Team Sport Director Max Sciandri said there is still a lot of racing left for Stetina to keep moving up the overall standings.

"It was a pretty hard day, a hot day," he said. "Pete gave it his best shot. The podium is still something we can get onto."