Tyler Butterfield held on to second place after three of the nine stages of the prestigious Tour de Guadeloupe.

The Commonwealth Games and Olympic athlete, in his second year with top French amateur team Vendee U, finished outside the top 20 in the 164.7 kilometre Saint-Claude to Gosier stage of the race in the French-speaking Caribbean island but remains in second place in the general classification.

Butterfield, who finished 21st last year, is four minutes and six seconds behind Martin Prazdnovsky of Slovakia and is the highest ranked of the four Vendee U racers inside the top 12.