Slovenian Luka Mezgec clocked his second top ten placing in three days for ORICA-BikeExchange at the Vuelta a Burgos by jumping from the second bunch to contest the sprint on stage three today.

The 198kilometre stage was relatively pedestrian for most of the day as the peloton sat steadily behind a five-man breakaway that was finally caught with 30kilometres remaining.

The field split on the final climb with around 80 riders pushing on towards the finale, Danny Van Poppel (Team-Sky) won the sprint from a group of six riders who went clear in the final few hundred metres.

Mezgec was unlucky to be caught just the wrong side as the sprint kicked in and fought hard to try and close the gap, eventually finishing in eighth place.

Sport director Dave McPartland was satisfied with the team’s performance on a long and hot day in the saddle.

“We did very well approaching the finish and managed to get Luka (Mezgec) into a good position,” said McPartland. “The last couple of kilometres were fairly technical and the last two corners before the line were taken very quickly and meant that a slight gap formed at the head of the bunch.”

Read the full report here.