Britain’s Ethan Hayter won the opening stage of the Tour of the Basque Country to take the early race lead.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider, 24, clinched the victory on a short sprint after a leadout from team-mate Omar Fraile in Labastida, Spain.
It is the Londoner’s first stage win of the season and 17th as a professional.
Soudal-QuickStep’s Mauro Schmid of Switzerland was second and Spain’s Jon Aberasturi, riding for Trek-Segafredo, came home in third.
“It’s amazing,” Hayter said.
“My team really backed me even after I wasn’t amazing in [the Tour of] Catalunya but I stepped up. They were all in for me today and I just have to thank them.”
Stage one result
1. Ethan Hayter (GB/Ineos) 4hrs 1min 24secs.
2. Mauro Schmid (Swi/Soudal-QuickStep) same time
3. Jon Aberasturi (Spa/Trek-Segafredo)
4. Alex Aranburu (Spa/Movistar)
5. Orluis Aular (Ven/Caja Rural-Seguros)
6. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost)
7. Quinten Hermans (Bel/Alpecin-Deceuninck)
8. Gonzalo Serrano (Spa/Movistar)
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Trek-Segafredo)
10. Cristian Scaroni (Ita/Astana)
General classification
1. Ethan Hayter (GB/Ineos) 4hrs 1min 14secs.
2. Mauro Schmid (Swi/Soudal-QuickStep) +4secs
3. Jon Aberasturi (Spa/Trek-Segafredo) +6secs
4. Daniel Martinez (Col/Ineos) +7secs
5. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) +8secs
6. Marc Soler (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +9secs
7. Cristian Rodriguez (Spa/Team Arkea-Samsic) same time
8. Alex Aranburu (Spa/Movistar) +10secs
9. Orluis Aular (Ven/Caja Rural-Seguros) same time
10. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost)
