As it happened: Hayter takes sprint thriller to open Itzulia Basque Country

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the opening stage at Itzulia Basque Country.

The stage is already underway here in the region's capital of Vitoria-Gasteiz. The riders are rolling through the neutral zone.

They'll ride on for another 15 minutes or so before the flag drops and racing gets underway on the 165km stage.

A look at the map of today's stage...

Plenty of big names taking on the race this week, including Jonas Vingegaard, Enric Mas, Egan Bernal, Dani Martínez, Richard Carapaz, Ion Izagirre, Mikel Landa, Simon Yates, David Gaudu, Sergio Higuita..

164km to go

Racing is underway as the flag drops to start stage 1!

It's a hilly start to the day, and rolling/hilly thereafter, but the only categorised climb on the stage is Opakua (7.1 km at 5.8%) at just over 30km into the stage.

157km to go

Some attacks going on an early rise in the road. Nothing sticking just yet.

Seven riders are trying to get away.

Around 15km until the riders take on Opakua.

The seven men on the move are caught and now it's Cristián Rodríguez (Arkéa-Samsic) and Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) on the attack.

150km to go

Jon Barrenetxea (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) is also on the move.

José Manuel Días (Burgos-BH) and Ibon Ruiz (Kern Pharma) are also attacking and are chasing the lead trio.

Ineos controlling at the front of the peloton currently.

142km to go

Three minutes from the lead trio to the peloton. Díaz and Ruiz are chasing in between.

The leaders start the day's only climb at Opakua.

Díaz and Ruiz are over a minute back.

Díaz and Ruiz are together now but two minutes down on the leaders.

Juaristi is dropped from the break on the climb, meanwhile.

Díaz has been caught by the peloton now, though Ruiz is still pushing on alone.

Four minutes from the break to the peloton. Ruiz is at three minutes.

Towards the top of the climb and Juaristi is back to make it three up front.

Barrenetxea leads the break over the top to claim the first mountain classification lead of the race.

125km to go

On the plateau at the top, Ruiz is caught by the peloton. Just the three-man break left.

Six points for Barrenetxea, four for Rodríguez, two for Juaristi and one for Ruiz.

Now the riders are descending from the plateau. More hills to come, though none of them are categorised.

3:30 between break and peloton.

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No change in the race situation as the riders traverse the hills mid-stage.

Rodríguez leading the attacking earlier on today.

95km to go

We're into the final 100km of the stage and the breakaway is 3:30 up the road.

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Catch all the action as Vingegaard headlines the contenders in the hills of the Basque Country

The riders pass the halfway mark of the stage now. Live television coverage will soon begin if you want to check that streaming guide!

The gap to the break is under two minutes now. No rush for the peloton to make any catch, though.

Still Barrenetxea, Juarista and Rodríguez out front.

The riders are on a mostly downhill run towards Labastida at the moment. A few ups and downs on the way to the intermediate sprint there, though.

Ineos Grenadiers still leading the way in the peloton.

Alpecin-Deceuninck are also up there. Their man Quinten Hermans has a chance on the punchy finish today.

75km to go

The peloton is strung out at the moment though the pace isn't too high.

Still two minutes between break and peloton as they continue downhill.

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Up and down a small hill and we're getting closer to Labastida.

Feeding time for the peloton as they pass through the feed zone.

Here's what Jonas Vingegaard had to say before the start... Very interesting stuff.

"I'm feeling very good. Hopefully i'm ready to fight for the win here. I'll do my best. It's a nice race so I'm looking forward to racing here.

"It's true there's no uphill finish or TT but still I've seen a lot of things happen on the last day in the last few years. Of course everything can still happen. Normally it's still the strongest guys fighting it out."

57km to go

2:10 between the break and peloton.

Ineos Grenadiers continue to control the head of the peloton.

The riders are approaching the final 50km of the stage now. 

Egan Bernal among the riders leading the peloton. He's back in action following his crash on stage 6 at the Volta a Catalunya and return to training last week.

50km to go

The break of the day continue out front, 2:20 up.

Juaristi led Barrenetxea and Rodríguez over the intermediate sprint.

Luis León Sánchez stops for a bike change in the peloton following a mechanical.

An upping of pace in the peloton has brought the gap down to 1:30.

40km to go

The breakaway is slowly getting reeled in. Their advantage lies at a minute now.

Ineos and Alpecin still leading the peloton.

UAE Team Emirates, Movistar, Jayco-AlUla also present towards the head of the peloton.

37km to go

More hilly terrain here but nothing too challenging.

It doesn't look as though the breakaway will last too much longer out front as their advantage keeps on falling.

UAE, Jumbo, Movistar, Ineos, Trek now all leading across the front of the peloton as they close in on the break.

Just 10 seconds for the trio out front.

30km to go

It's over for the breakaway. The three men are reabsorbed into the peloton.

Into the final 30km and a small hill before the longer rise to the next intermediate sprint at Laguardia 21km out.

25km to go

All together as the riders head towards the finish.

The riders are on the closing loop heading back towards the finish at Labastida.

The peloton out on the road today.

Jumbo-Visma take to the front on the uphill run towards the intermediate sprint.

A very high pace up front as the GC men hit the front.

20km to go

Martínez moves up ahead of the sprint.

The Colombian takes the sprint just ahead of Vingegaard.

Marc Soler was third.

16km to go

The peloton is all back together after that burst of action. Not too much left in their way ahead of the punchy uphill to the finish.

Astana, EF, Jumbo, Ineos among the teams up front with the peloton spread across the road.

Bora, Groupama, Intermarché also joining the fray.

10km to go

Edging closer to the finish now. It hasn't been an exciting one...

Astana massed on the front. The Kazakhstani team are currently 29th in the UCI team ranking, below the Thailand Continental Cycling Team and just ahead of Soudal-QuickStep's development squad. They're not doing very well so far this season.

They're led here by 39-year-old Luis Léon Sánchez, who hasn't won at WorldTour level since 2019. I don't know how promising this week is looking for them either.

7km to go

Wide roads here so various teams are spread across the road rather than one team leading it.

Italian Simone Velasco delivered Astana's only win so far in 2023 at stage 3 of the Vuelta a Valenciana. They haven't had a podium since the UAE Tour in mid February.

5km to go

Anyway, the pace is hotting up on a downhill run towards the finale.

A Basque ikurriña flag at the side of the road indicates the headwind the riders are racing into.

4km to go

Jumbo, QuickStep, Ineos all up front now.

3km to go

The peloton heads uphill now.

Ineos and QuickStep looking the most organised on the front.

The gradient is 8% in places here.

Alpecin-Deceuninck move up.

2km to go

A rider from TotalEnergies on the attack off the front.

He's brought back quickly though.

Soudal-QuickStep in charge up front.

1km to go

The Belgians in full control at the moment.

Now Ineos move up for Ethan Hayter.

Up into the town now. Ineos lead it.

Hayter is the first to launch!

The British rider leads it out on the front and nobody is able to get past.

Finish

It's a tight finish with a few curves and so Ethan Hayter takes the win on stage 1!

A great day out for Ineos Grenadiers as Martínez grabbed a few bonus seconds and Hayter triumphed at the finish.

QuickStep were in a great position in the final kilometre but it was Ineos who took over late on for the run into the town and delivered Hayter to victory.

Hayter beat Mauro Schmid (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jon Aberasturi (Trek-Segafredo) to the line.

It was very close between Schmid and Aberasturi for second place.

Alex Aranburu (Movistar) and Orluis Aular (Caja Rural-Seguros-RGA) take fourth and fifth.

Hayter celebrates his win in Labastida.

The peloton finished massed together so all the main GC men should be on the same time at the line.

That's Hayter's first win of 2022 and the 17th of his career.

His last win was the Tour de Pologne back in August.

Here's what Hayter said after the stage...

"It's amazing. My team really backed me even after I wasn't amazing in Catalunya, but I stepped up. They were all-in for me today and I have to thank them.

"[Lead-out man Fraile] is an expert in the Basque Country. This final was perfect. I just had to do the last 100 metres.

"It's really nice, especially to get my first win this year. I broke my collarbone in Australia and it took me a while to come back from that. Hopefully it gives me more confidence going forward."

A great shot looking down the hill as Hayter launched his sprint for the line.

Egan Bernal came in at six minutes down alongside teammate and training partner Brandon Rivera, but no other big names lost time today.

A sense of the speed as Hayter led the peloton home for the stage victory today.

Hayter holds three jerseys overnight – those of the overall, the points and the best young rider. Barrenetxea takes the KOM jersey.

Here's Hayter in the race leader's yellow jersey.

That's all from us on live duty today. More coming up tomorrow and throughout the rest of the week from the Basque Country!