Vuelta a Espana: Peter Sagan wins stage 3 as Chris Froome stays 8th

Peter Sagan sprinted to his first grand tour victory in more than two years

Chris Froome remained eighth overall at the Vuelta a Espana as Peter Sagan sprinted to victory on stage three in Malaga.

Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) claimed his first grand tour win since the 2013 Tour de France by beating Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) into second place and John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) into third.

Johan Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) finished in the peloton to retain the overall race lead and stay five seconds ahead of second-placed Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) and 15 seconds in front of third-placed Nicolas Roche (Team Sky).

Johan Esteban Chaves retained the overall lead of the Vuelta a Espana

Froome also crossed the line in the main bunch to remain 40 seconds off the lead, while rival Nairo Quintana (Movistar) stays 36 seconds down in sixth.

Sagan told Eurosport: "I'm very happy. I have to say thank you to all my team-mates because they did a very good job.

"I was on Degenkolb's wheel. He started the sprint very early. He went one way; I went the other. It was quite a long way out. The wind was an advantage and it played it to my hands."

The Vuelta continues on Tuesday with a 209.6km fourth stage from Estepona to Vejer de la Frontera, which includes a short but steep late climb. Follow all the action with our live blog from 3pm.

Stage three result

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, 4:06:46

2 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, same time

3 John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin, st

4 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing, st

5 Ariel Richeze (Arg) Lampre-Merida, st

6 Kristian Sbragali (Ita) MTN-Qhubeka, st

7 Mitchell Docker (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, st

8 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek Factory Racing, st

9 Vicente Reynes (Esp) IAM Cycling, st

10 Tom van Asbroeck (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo, st

General classification

1 Johan Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, 8:04:01

2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +5sec

3 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky, +15

4 Dan Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin, +24

5 Joaquim Rodriguez (Esp) Katusha, +35

6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +36

7 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +38

8 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, +40

9 Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha, st

10 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana, +47