Angel Vicioso held onto the overall lead in the Vuelta a Asturias at the end of Stage Three, which was won by Stefano Garzelli in a time of 3 hours 46'17".

Spaniard Vicioso was involved in the final sprint of the 168.2 km stage between Llanes and Aviles, but the La Aluminios-MSS rider eventually finished fourth behind Italians Garzelli (Acqua Sappone-Makambo) and Bernardo Riccio (Tinkoff) as well as compatriot Joaquin Sobrino (Burgos Monumental).

Garzelli is in second place in the overall standings. The rest of the top five is comprised of Xavier Tondo Volpini, Constantino Zaballa Gutierrez and Bruno Pires (all La-MSS), though only Gutierrez managed to finish in the top ten on Stage Three.

Tuesday's stage makes the 180.2 km trip from Pravia to El Acebo, before the final 184.4 km leg from Cangas de Narcea back to Oviedo on Wednesday.

SECOND STAGE

A fourth place finish in a 17.2km time trial from Nueva to Llanes saw Angel Vicioso hang onto the lead of the Tour of Asturias despite having provisionally lost it earlier in the day.

The day's racing was done in two parts - first there was a 95 kilometres race between Gijón and Llanes, which ended in a sprint finish.

Italian Stefano Garzelli was victorious and with the bonus seconds gained he had overtaken Vicioso.

But he could only finish 29th in the time trial and slipped to fourth in GC.

Garzelli of Acqua Sapone - Caffe Mokambo is the only non-LA Aluminios-MSS rider in the top five.

Xavier Tondo Volpini is second, Constantino Zaballa Gutierrez third, and Bruno Pires fifth.

FIRST STAGE

Angel Vicioso won the opening stage of the Tour of Asturias in the north of Spain as LA Aluminios-MSS riders dominated proceedings.

After an early break from Italy's Luigi Sestili (Cerámica Flaminia-Bossini Docce) and Spain's Enrique Salgueiro (Extremadura) was chased down, four riders from the Portugal-based LA Aluminios-MSS team, including Vicioso, attacked.

They were joined by Italian Stefano Garzelli (Acqua Sapone-Mokambo) and he actually nearly nicked the stage but Vicioso just edged him on the line.

The stage was a 158.2km trek linking the region's two biggest cities - Oviedo and Gijón.

The race runs until Monday.

Eurosport