BMC Racing Team's Peter Velits was part of the day's breakaway at the Vuelta a España Thursday before teammates Tejay van Garderen and Samuel Sánchez finished in a select group, 11 seconds after solo stage winner Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE).

Van Garderen was 15th and Sánchez finished 17th as Chaves regained the race lead he lost by one second on Wednesday. Van Garderen is the BMC Racing Team's best-placed rider, 13th overall and 76 seconds behind Chaves.

Velits was part of what eventually became a six-man escape move. The escapees enjoyed a nearly five-minute lead before being reeled in as uphill climb to the finish began. On Sunday, Velits wore the race leader's red jersey following the BMC Racing Team's Stage 1 victory in the team time trial.

"I am happy that I made the breakaway but we are just a couple of days in," Velits said. "Hopefully there will be a successful breakaway for me.

"It was tough, everybody was trying, it was not so easy to get in the break. It was a big fight from the beginning to create a breakaway. We went away at a hard point and I was happy to be there. But with Gautier three minutes behind in the GC, we knew there was not a big chance. It was a pity the combination was not the best but I'm happy I was in the break."