Fernando Gaviria claimed his first stage win of 2021 ©Getty Images

Colombian Fernando Gaviria of UAE Team Emirates crossed the line at the front for the first time in 2021, after claiming the win on stage three of the Tour de Pologne in Rzeszów in Poland.

The points classification winner of the 2017 Giro d'Italia and two-time Tour de France stage winner finished in 5 hours 18min 15sec on the 226.4-kilometre route from Sanok.

In a close sprint, he finished in front of Dutch rider Olav Kooij of Team Jumbo-Visma and German Phil Bauhaus of Bahrain Victorious, who won the opening stage of the race.

The Colombian timed his sprint well to snatch the victory away from Kooij, who started the dash for the line.

Germans Max Kanter and Max Walscheid of Team DSM and Team Qhubeka NextHash completed the top five in the stage.

Portuguese rider João Almeida of Deceuninck-QuickStep maintained his lead in the general classification after finishing in the group, maintaining his four-second gap over Italian Diego Ulissi of UAE Team Emirates and Slovenian Matej Mohorič of Bahrain Victorious.

Tomorrow, the race is set to cover 160.5km from Tarnów to Termy Bukowina Tatrzańska - the sole full mountain stage of this year's race.