CASTELO BRANCO, Portugal (AP) — Overall leader Wout van Aert won a sprint finish Monday to take victory in the third stage of the Spanish Vuelta.
Wearing the leader’s red jersey, Van Aert surged into the lead with about 250 meters left to edge Kaden Groves into second place and flip the result of Sunday’s second stage, when the Australian took the sprint win.
The Belgian star’s win was his first since February — at the Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne one-day race — and the wait included two second-place finishes in stages at the Tour de France.
Van Aert also took a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics in the time trial last month, which was won by his compatriot Remco Evenepoel.
Jon Abersaturi took third place Monday at the end of a 191.2-kilometer (118.8-mile) stage from Lousa with some lower-category climbs on the third and final day of racing in Portugal.
The Vuelta moves into Spain on Tuesday with Van Aert leading the overall classification by 13 seconds over Brandon McNulty of the United States — a status he expects to lose in the mountains.
“Unfortunately the fun is over,” said Van Aert, with his Visma Lease-a-Bike teammate Sepp Kuss, the American defending champion, expected to make a move in the three-week race.
A four-rider breakaway Monday saw a pair of teammates stay clear for much of the stage. Unai Iribar and Ibon Ruiz of Kern Pharma worked with Xabier Isasa and Luis Angel Maté of Euskaltel-Euskadi to build a lead that grew to more than five minutes.
Isasa was last to be caught by the main bunch with about 20 kilometers (12 miles) to race.
The Vuelta heads into the west of central Spain on Tuesday for a grueling 170.5-km (106 mile) trek from Plasencia to Pico Villuercas.
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