Peter Sagan belatedly claimed a Grand Tour victory on stage three of the Vuelta a Espana in Malaga today.
The Slovakian Tinkoff-Saxo rider triumphed in his first Grand Tour stage in more than two years, having endured blanks in the last two Tours de France, where he still emerged with the points classification’s green jersey.
Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin were among the chasing pack, and retain their third and fourth spots respectively on general classification.
Colombian Esteban Chaves retains the leader’s red jersey – he’s 15 seconds ahead of Roche and 24 ahead of Martin.
Sagan’s sprint win, ahead of Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin), was Sagan’s fourth stage success at the Tour of Spain, following three wins in the 2011 edition.
The 158-kilometre route from Mijas began without Vincenzo Nibali, the 2010 winner who on Sunday was expelled from the race for hanging on to his Astana team car.
Another high-profile name, Fabian Cancellara (Trek) abandoned midway through the stage through illness.
Gallery: Vuelta a España, stage 3. Sagan sprints through Spanish heat to win. http://t.co/5fGGNQzoym pic.twitter.com/HiVu6MzPx9
— VeloNews (@velonews) August 24, 2015
The Swiss was using the race as preparation for September’s Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia in the United States.
Tour de France champion Chris Froome finished safely in the pack in 19th place and sits eighth overall, 40secs behind.