Tearful Martin wins Vuelta stage 3 as Roglic keeps lead

Ireland's Dan Martin won a thrilling battle for stage three honours on the Vuelta a Espana and now trails race leader Primoz Roglic by just five seconds

As a select group sprinted for the line atop a steep climb veteran Martin put in a concerted bid to outsprint Roglic and Richard Carapaz, who was third on the stage and is also third overall.

"This one's for the wife," said a tearful Martin at the hilltop finish.

"It's my first win since I joined the new team too," said the Israel Start Up Nation captain who will be joined next season by Chris Froome.

The newly formed Israeli team recently won a stage on the Giro d'Italia with England's Alex Dowsett on stage 8.

Two-time Vuelta winner Froome fell off the pace on the final 8km climb around halfway up and is already some 30 minutes off the pace on the 18 stage Vuelta.

There was little wind as the race went through the Rioja wine region before traversing a vast, bleak almost treeless plateau.

The 166km run from Lososa to Laguna Negra may have been a sign of things to come weatherwise as riders all wore jackets in the run through pine forests and misty rain ahead of the final climb.

Colombia's Esteban Chaves dropped from fourth overnight to eighth 1min 29sec down after a puncture with just a couple of kilometres to race.

VIDEO: 2020 Giro d'Italia Vuelta Stage 3 Highlights

2020 Giro d'Italia Vuelta Stage 3 Top 10

1 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation 04:27:49
2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
3 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers
4 Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain McLaren 00:00:04
5 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana Pro Team 00:00:07
6 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 00:00:09
7 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:00:12
8 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling 00:00:12
9 Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 00:00:12
10 Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 00:00:24

2020 Giro d'Italia Vuelta GC after Stage 3

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 12:37:24
2 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:00:05
3 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:13
4 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:32
5 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:38
6 Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:44
7 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:17
8 Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:29
9 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:55
10 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:57