MADRID, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Wout van Aert of Visma-Lease a Bike won the third stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race on Monday to strengthen his overall lead in the race.

The Belgian finished just ahead of Sunday's stage winner, Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Deceuninck, in a sprint at the end of the 191-kilometer stage between the Portuguese town of Lousa and Castelo Branco.

"I have waited a long time to raise my arms like that," commented Van Aert who hasn't won since a bad fall while racing in his homeland in March.

Jon Aberasturi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was third in the stage, again raced in high temperatures and at a slower-than-expected speed.

A four-man break of Xabier Isasa and Luis Angel Mate (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Unai Iribar and Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma) managed to open a lead of around three minutes over the main peloton but never looked like getting all the way home as the group began to work hard on the final climb of the day.

Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) tried a typical solo attack with two kilometers to go to bring some emotion to the finish, but Van Aert's team worked to catch him with around 900 meters still to race.

Van Aert launched his sprint around 200 meters from the line but had the strength to hold off Groves who finished strongly.

"The fun is over now," joked the winner afterward, pointing to Tuesday's fourth stage, which sees the Vuelta enter Spain with the first hilltop finish at the end of the 170 kilometers between Plasencia and Pico Villuercas, which includes two first and two-second category climbs. Enditem

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