Vuelta a Espana: Chris Froome up to third as Alexandre Geniez wins

Chris Froome moved up to third overall at the Vuelta a Espana by finishing an impressive fourth on the steep final climb of stage three.

The Team Sky rider was initially dropped by his rivals on the 1.8km ascent to the summit finish at Mirador de Ezaro, which averaged 13.8 per cent in gradient and reached a maximum of 30 per cent, but later caught back up and crossed the line at the same time as third-placed Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and fifth-placed Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange).

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) followed sixth seconds later in sixth after being dropped when Froome launched an attack in the last 200m, while Alberto Contador's (Tinkoff) poor start to the Vuelta continued when he was distanced midway up the climb and lost 28 seconds to his fellow pre-race favourites.

Breakaway rider Alexandre Geniez (FDJ.fr) won the stage by 21 seconds from runner-up Ruben Fernandez (Movistar), who took the overall lead after attacking out of the peloton in the final 1km.

Valverde climbs to second place in the general classification, seven seconds adrift of his team-mate, while Froome is four seconds further back and six seconds ahead of fourth-placed Chaves.

The 31-year-old Briton had expected to struggle in the opening week of the Vuelta, but his encouraging performance on stage three suggested he is already competitive with his closest rivals and will challenge for overall victory.

Contador, on the other hand, is now 1min 20sec adrift of Froome and needs a significant turnaround in form to win the red jersey for a fourth time.

The Vuelta continues on Tuesday with a 163.5km fourth stage starting in Betanzos and ending with the second of the race's 10 summit finishes, at Mirador de Veixia. Find out more about the route in our race guide and follow the action with our live blog from 3pm BST.

Stage three result

1 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr, 4:28:36
2 Ruben Fernandez (Esp) Movistar, +21sec
3 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +26
4 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, same time
5 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-BikeExchange, st
6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +32
7 Igor Anton (Esp) Dimension Data, st
8 Samuel Sanchez (Esp) BMC Racing, +54
9 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff, st
10 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step, st

General classification

1 Ruben Fernandez (Esp) Movistar, 9:16:07
2 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +7sec
3 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, +11
4 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-BikeExchange, +17
5 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +17
6 Samuel Sanchez (Esp) BMC Racing, +46
7 Peter Kennaugh (GB) Team Sky, +47
8 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky, +51
9 Daniel Moreno (Esp) Movistar, +58
10 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step, +1:01
Selected other
11 Simon Yates (GB) Orica-BikeExchange, +1:23
12 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff, +1:31