Etixx - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Mark Cavendish earned 2nd place for the 2nd time in 3 stages on Wednesday, this time at 176.3km Tour de Luis Stage 3, from Concaran to Juana Koslay.

A breakaway of six riders was brought back inside 25km to go, and Etixx - Quick-Step moved to the front with five riders before the 1km to go marker. But it was Fernando Gaviria (Colombia) who would launch early on the uphill sprint finale, and he won his second stage of the race. Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) was also 3rd for the second time in three stages.

"It was a fast finish, and I felt super good," Cavendish said. "The team rode incredible again all day. But the Colombians went super, super fast the last few hundred meters. I think we just hesitated a bit and that's a shame because it was the exact opposite of what we did the first stage when I let the team down that day. I had too much ground to make up today, which is too bad because the team really did ride great today going into the finish. The last kilometer slipped away a little bit.

"But Gaviria deserved the win again today. He's a track rider, so he's very fast and he can go super long. Being able to sprint from a distance like that is a sign of a track rider. It's very impressive. As for me, I'm happy with my form and the team is riding well overall. I'd still like to try and win a stage here at Tour de San Luis and it would be nice to get the first victory of the year out of the way. 

"I said it after the first stage, we have a couple new guys here with Lukasz Wisniowski and Fabio Sabatini and they're doing a great job. This is also Sabatini's first race as the final leadout man, so the first race of the season is an important time for all of us to get this right and I'm confident we will."

Etixx - Quick-Step looks next to Stage 4, which begins the stages that, on paper, could be decisive for the GC. The 142.5km Stage finishes on Alto El Amago, which features a 7.2% average gradient and some steep ramps.