Stephen Cummings of Britain wins 3rd stage of Basque Country

LESAKA, Spain (AP) Stephen Cummings of Britain took a tightly-bunched leading pack by surprise with a powerful sprint in the last kilometer to win the third stage of the Tour of Basque Country on Wednesday.

Cummings finished in five hours, one minute and 57 seconds.

The 35-year-old Dimension Data rider timed his final surge perfectly, outsprinting second-place Simon Gerrans of Australia and Italy's Fabio Felline who finished third, both in the same time as Cummings.

Spain's Mikel Landa finished 37th in the same time but retained the overall leader's jersey on the mountainous 193-kilometer ride from Vitoria to Lesaka that contained three category-2 climbs.

''I'm happy with the way the race is going so far,'' said Landa, who acknowledged that Cummings had caught him off-guard.

Alberto Contador took 16th place, while Nairo Quintana of Colombia finished just behind 25th-place Fabio Aru of Italy, the winner of last year's Spanish Vuelta.

Thursday's fourth stage is a 165 kilometer ride from Lesaka to Orio.