Iván Sosa's (Team Ineos) streak of domination in the ultra-difficult Lagunas de Neira in the Vuelta a Burgos continued on Saturday as the young Colombian won this demanding summit finish for the third time in three years.

For his victory in Burgos' best-known summit finish in 2019, Sosa overtook the attacker ahead of him, former world champion Rui Costa, late in the race, a move similar to the one he made two years ago to overtake Sergio Pardilla in the final kilometer.

This time, Sosa first bridged the top two GC challengers, Remco Evenpole (Detunink-Quickstep) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren), before making a final attack with 500m to go.

In both cases, the effect was the same: Sosa once again raised his arms at the top of the steep forest road to solo victory. But unlike in 2019 and 2018, when he lost time on the first summit finish of the Picon Blanco, this time Sosa could not claim the overall GC victory at the Vuelta a Burgos either.

"I knew the finish well and I knew I had to wait until the end. I think we were close to the limit, but everyone was tired," Sosa said after the race.

"The team had the idea of going as far as we could with Richie [Calapaz] (Calapaz finished sixth overall) and also trying to win a stage. So I'm happy with what we accomplished."

The flip side for Sosa was that he lost more than seven minutes on Thursday's climb to the Picon Blanco, which prevented him from defending the overall title he won in 2018 and 2019.

The young Colombian suffered badly from crosswinds as the echelon formed in the final hours of stage 3 and dug deep to regain the lead group, but ironically was absorbed by the main peloton and could not remain in contention when the GC battle began on the final climb

"I wanted to win the overall for the third time, but it didn't happen.

Asked how he viewed cycling's return to racing after the enforced gap caused by the pandemic outbreak, Sosa thanked the Colombian Cycling Federation and the President of Colombia for their efforts in allowing the South American contingent to travel to Europe to race on a special chartered flight. He thanked the Colombian Cycling Federation and the President of Colombia for their efforts in allowing the South American delegation to travel to Europe and race on a special chartered flight.

Sosa also praised the "well-run organization" of the Vuelta a Burgos, the first major cycling event of the "new normal" and said, "It's great to finally race here again.