Steve Cummings wins Tour of the Basque Country stage three
Team Sky's Mikel Landa retains the overall lead
By Matt Westby
Last Updated: 07/04/16 4:43pm
Britain’s Steve Cummings won stage three of the Tour of the Basque Country after a surprise late attack while Team Sky’s Mikel Landa retained the overall lead.
With a sprint finish seemingly looming, Cummings (Dimension Data) surged out of a reduced peloton with about 900m left to the finish in Lesaka and hung on for his second win of the season.
The chasers finished just behind Cummings on the same time, with Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) sprinting to second place ahead of Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo).
All of the contenders for overall victory followed safely in the main bunch, which had been severely whittled down by a barrage of short but sharp climbs.
The result means Landa remains one second ahead of second-placed Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo) and five seconds ahead of third-placed Sergio Henao (Team Sky) in the general classification.
Cummings' other win this season came after a similar late attack at Tirreno-Adriatico last month.
The six-day Tour of the Basque Country continues on Thursday with a 165km rolling fourth stage from Lesaka to Orio.
Stage three result
1 Steve Cummings (GB) Dimension Data, 5:01:57
2 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, same time
3 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, st
4 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step, st
5 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar, st
General classification
1 Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, 13:39:35
2 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +1sec
3 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, +5
4 Samuel Sanchez (Esp) BMC Racing, +9
5 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff, +11
