Irish champ Rory Townsend and team on top in Greece | Video | Sticky Bottle

*Aaron Gate and Rory Townsend in the blue and red classification leaders' jerseys on today's third stage in Greece*

Rory Townsend and his Bolton Equities Black Spoke ProContinental team have been in great form in recent days at the International Tour of Hellas (2.1). The Irish champion is now 2nd overall with two stages remaining, both of which should be right up his alley.

Townsend's team took a 1-2-3 on the opening stage; a 6km pan flat TT in Heraklion. That stage was won by Kiwi Aaron Gate, who won three gold medals on the track and road race gold at the Commonwealth Games last year, as well as a bronze in the omnium at the Worlds.

Gate was nine seconds up on Townsend in the test, with their team mate Logan Currie 3rd at 14 seconds. Yesterday's opening road race stage - some 187.7km starting and finishing in Heraklion - featured two cat 2 climbs, including one close to the finish.

Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains — *The finish of today's stage, with Townsend taking 6th in the final sprint that decided stage honours*

Video - Italy's hero Balsamo mobbed mid-stage during Giro TT — *The finish of today's stage, with Townsend taking 6th in the final sprint that decided stage honours*

The fight for victory came down to a sprint from a reduced peloton of 70 riders. Townsend suffered a mechanical in the last 3km, which took him out of the fight for stage honours but did not cost him any time in the general classification.

Stanisław Aniołkowski (Human Powered Health) took the victory from Iúri Leitão (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Tyler Stites (Project Echelon Racing).

Today's stage 2 took the riders 178.3km from Mycenae to Kalamata, with three categorised climbs. And though one of those was the only cat 1 ascent of the five-stage race, the finale was flatter today, meaning a sprint finish once again decided the outcome.

The stage was won by Timothy Dupont (Tarteletto-Isorex), with Townsend placing 6th in the final sprint to the line. With two stages remaining, Gate - who was 14th today - still leads the race by nine seconds from Townsend. There are 10, six and four seconds in time bonuses for the top three on the final two stages.