Cummings prevails on Alto do Malhão

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Stephen Cummings (Sky) bested a leading group of five atop the category two Alto do Malhão climb to win stage three of the Volta ao Algarve. The 29-year-old Briton outsprinted Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) and defending champion Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank Sungard) to cap off an aggressive final 2.7km climb to the finish in the Portuguese race's "queen stage".

Also in the lead group were Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) and Van Garderen's HTC-Highroad teammate Tony Martin who finished fourth and fifth respectively.

RadioShack's Tiago Machado followed in sixth, six seconds back, while Sky's Simon Gerrans led in a group for seventh place at 16 seconds.

With the victory, Cummings takes over the general classification lead from Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), who finished 1:45 off the pace and dropped to 40th overall. Cummings leads Contador by six seconds and Martin by 10 seconds with two stages remaining.

"It's a big win for Steve," said Sky Sports Director Sean Yates. "Today was a hard stage with plenty of tough climbs, especially the final one up to Alto do Malhão.

"When you look at the riders who were around him, to pull out more against them is a fantastic achievement and a very, very impressive performance. He timed his finish to perfection and just jumped them at the end.

"With Gilbert getting dropped on the climb it means Steve is the new race leader and we'll do our utmost to defend that but there will be plenty of other teams who will also feel they are in with a big chance."

The stage was dominated by a lengthy breakaway, originally comprised of six riders: Martijn Maaskant (Garmin-Cervelo), Anthony Ravard (AG2R La Mondiale), William Clarke (Leopard Trek), Jarl Salomein (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Jesse Sergent (RadioShack) and Ruben Martinez (Caja Rural).

The sextet escaped 12km into the 196km stage, just after the day's first sprint line at 10km, taken by Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) ahead of race leader Philippe Gilbert and his Omega Pharma-Lotto teammate André Greipel.

The six escapees stretched their advantage out to a maximum of four minutes, while the undulating terrain slowly chipped away at the composition of the leading group. At 100km and one KOM under the break's belt, claimed by Salomein, Martinez dropped off the pace leaving five in the lead.

At the second KOM, a category three climb at km 136 also claimed by Salomein, the five man break's advantage had dropped to 1:10. The ascent proved too much for Ravard, who soon was dropped from the break leaving Maaskant, Clarke, Sergent and Salomein to push onwards in the lead.

Clarke claimed the stage's third KOM prior to the quartet being caught after 150km of racing

Wout Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM) claimed the next KOM at km 160, outkicking Ricardo Mestre (Tavira) atop the category three climb. The points earned by Mestre guaranteed he'd remain in the lead of the mountains classification for another day.

RadioShack came to the head of the peloton and pushed the pace, splitting the pack into three groups with 30km remaining. Saxo Bank Sungard also provided horsepower at the head of the lead group, which numbered approximately 80 riders.

RadioShack, Garmin-Cervelo and Saxo Bank Sungard all kept the pace high in the fast run-in to the critical finale: the 2.7km climb to the finish on the category two Alto do Malhão.

Overnight race leader Philippe Gilbert soon succumbed to the brisk pace set on the finishing ascent and lost contact with the aggressors on the front. In the final kilometre a lead group of five formed, containing Cummings, Contador, Martin, Van Garderen and Taaramae. Cummings proved the strongest as the Briton took the biggest victory of his career.