Team Sky enlivened the final climb on day one at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco as Sergio Henao led home four team-mates in the lead group.

Henao jumped clear of the pack on the second-category Alto del Vivero as he continued his impressive comeback from injury.

The race came back together on the descent with Vasil Kiryienka keeping the pace high to fend off late attacks on the run into Bilbao.

In the end the stage came down to a reduced bunch sprint with Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) taking the victory and with it an early race lead. Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx - Quick-Step) and Ilnur Zakurin (Katusha) rounded out the podium places.

Henao, Kanstantsin Siutsou, David Lopez and Kiryienka finished in a lead pack which were handed the same time following a late crash on the finishing straight.

The stage did not go to plan for Mikel Nieve who lost time on the final climb. Sports Director Nicolas Portal confirmed: "Mikel began to struggle and got dropped 2km from the top of the climb.

"He felt great until the last 20km and then he got into difficulties. He said it was strange as he felt like he was in the red, even though it was a short climb. There is no issue, pain or sickness. He just had a bad day I think which can happen. 

"We did not have any riders in the crashes at the end of the stage which was the good news for us."