Many Irish fans looking forward to seeing what Dan Martin and Philip Deignan can do in the mountains of the Vuelta a Espana wouldn't have seen today's stage 3 as an opportunity for either to come out to play.
However, Martin can be full of surprises and is clearly raring to get some top results to put behind him what has been a tough period since crashing out of the Giro d'Italia in Belfast back in May.
Today the drag race up the short climb to the finish saw most of the main favourites gain seven seconds on the best of the rest of the field; with the peloton fracturing quite a bit on the run-in.
Martin was doing the damage on the front in the end. But Giro 2014 stage winner and one-time race leader, Australian Michael Matthews clung to him and sprinted past him for the win - the victor and vanquished featured in Stefano Sirotti's photo above.
If you missed it, have a look at the clip below. It features the last 10 minutes of racing.
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Michael Matthews is gradually building massive palmares; with the race lead and stages in the Giro and Vuelta this year now to his name. His stage victory today swept him into the Vuelta race lead (Photo: Stefano Sirotti)
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