Joaquim Rodriguez proved that he is up for the challenge of fighting for the overall victory in the Vuelta a Espana when he finished third in the hard stage 3 to pick up 4 bonus seconds. The Spaniard was pleased with his team's performance that nearly gave Giampaolo Caruso a surprise stage victory.

Stage 3’s slightly uphill finish helped improve Team Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez’ time gap as the former Spanish champion took third place and earned the four-second time bonus for the general classification.

"Though the final of the race did not suit us perfectly, our team took the race in hand. Caruso was strong and it’s a pity that he just missed the win. Maybe I could have tried something but that’s hard to say afterwards. We are happy with what we showed today. The team did very well," said team leaderJoaquim ‘Purito’ Rodriguez.

"The initial plan was that Kolobnev and I would pull the last 1.5 kilometer for Dani and Purito, but when I accelerated I looked back and saw the gap. Of course at that point I gave my all to try for the win. It’s a pity that I missed by less than 100 meters, but I can be happy about my condition. What we saw today is hopeful for the upcoming stages with uphill finishes," said Giampaolo Caruso. 

Team Katusha’s jerseys were all over the front of the fast-paced finale, with Giampaolo Caruso the first team rider to create a gap in the closing kilometer. But as Garmin-Sharp’s Dan Martin closed the gap and Caruso dropped away, Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) came around him to steal the win and earn the red leader’s jersey in the process. Matthews leads by four seconds to Nairo Quintana and 11-seconds to Alejandro Valverde, both of Movistar. 

"We had a plan today to fight for the stage victory. We did a recon a few days ago of the last kilometers and we knew the final part. We tried to control the race and with 5km to go the guys went in the front to increase the speed of the group. We accelerated even more with 1.5km to go on the hardest part to try to take Joaquim to the front for the last attack. It almost worked but we missed just a little in the last meters. All of the team was really strong today. I’m happy with the stage and all the big moments are still to come. We picked up some seconds on the GC today and this is also important," said team director José Azevedo.

Tomorrow’s stage 4 features two climbs slightly bigger than today’s but a final 20km run to the finish line that is more or less flat. At 173km the stage begins in Mairena del Alcor and ends in Córdoba.