Vuelta a Andalucia 2014 - Stage 3

The third day of racing in the Vuelta a Andalucia was another tough one, with a summit finish coming at the end of a 197.1 kilometre stage from La Guardia de Jaen to Cabra. It would be interesting to see whether Alejandro Valverde could continue his relative dominance of the race, or whether Sky could loosen the Spaniard's grip on the leader's jersey.

A seven man breakaway got away; Jordi Simon (Team Ecuador), Andrey Zeits (Astana), Markel Irizar (Trek), Simon Geschke (Giant-Shimano), Romain Zingle (Cofidis), Tim Wellens (Lotto-Belisol) and Branislau Samoilau (CCC Polsat) were the participants, but their lead never stretched above four minutes. Movistar Team worked hard for Valverde and never wanted the break to be a danger to their leader.

Sky were relatively quiet, sitting behind Movistar protecting Porte for the majority of the stage, but they came to the fore at the foot of the final climb, where the race really lit up. Sir Bradley Wiggins put in a particularly impressive turn on the front, and Team Sky in general ripped up the peloton on the final climb.

Valverde once again however was unmoved, and was once again joined by his faithful lieutenant Jon Izagirre. When Sky had finished decimating the majority of the peloton, Valverde jumped away once again, and he won at the top of the climb. Luis Leon Sanchez (Caja Rural) was the closest to him, finishing with Daniel Navarro, Michele Scarponi and Richie Porte a second off Valverde.

As a result, despite Sky's best efforts, Porte now lies twenty seconds off Valverde in the general classification, and the wily Spaniard has completed a hattrick of stage wins in the Spanish stage race. With two stages remaining, it is becoming increasingly difficult for anyone to catch the 2009 Vuelta a Espana champion.