Following on from his impressive 3rd place on Stage 2, Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) came close to another stage win on today’s 210 kilometre stage from Estepona to Vejer de la Frontera.

On the narrow final climb to the finish, Samuel Sanchez (BMC Racing) attacked with Roche bridging across to him with less than 1.5 kms to go. However, the Katusha-led peloton kept the gap to a minimum.

Roche held his nerve and didn’t panic, leaving Sanchez to do the work. Coming into the final straight, the Irishman made his move and it looked that the stage win would be his. However, in the closing metres, he was overtaken by Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Dani Moreno (Katusha) to finish in fourth. It had been a valiant effort by Roche who’s showing that he’s in top form for the race.

Johan Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) holds on to his red jersey, with Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) in second. Roche sits in third, 12″ behind Chaves. He also sits in fourth place in the points competition, which is led by Peter Sagan. The race continues tomorrow with a flat 167-kilometre stage from Rota to Ronda.

Here are the last 17 kilometres of today’s stage:

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