Sam Bennett sprinted to a dominant victory on stage three of the Vuelta a España as fellow Irishman Nicolas Roche retained the overall lead.

Bennett (BORA-hansgrohe) comfortably beat Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) into second place and Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-SCOTT) into third in Alicante.

Roche (Team Sunweb) followed in the peloton to remain two seconds ahead of second-placed Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) and eight seconds in front of third-placed Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First Pro Cycling) in the general classification.