Russian cyclist Ilnur Zakarin earned his first podium place in a WorldTour race on Monday when he took third in a group sprint to end stage one in the Basque Tour. Charging up the middle of the course, Zakarin battled for his place on the podium, just missing the win in his first season of racing at the highest level in professional cycling.

"In the descent I tried to be in front. In the end, when I saw Tony Martin, who gets a really good speed, I followed him, because I knew it could be a good move. So I stayed behind him, and later behind Kwiatkowski and Matthews. I tried to do my best in this position and was able to finish third. I am pretty happy as this is my first podium and points in a WorldTour race. This gives me a lot of motivation for the future," said Ilnur Zakarin.

The stage was won by Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) with world champion Michal Kwiatkowski from Etixx – Quick Step in second place. Daniel Moreno finished 10th.

"I am happy with the way our team did today's race. We were active and were in front all the time.  On the last climb there were a number of attacks. Dani Moreno and Ilnur Zakarin were in front to control it and maybe to try for themselves, but nobody could get a gap because the peloton had a really high speed. In the final I told our riders to try to do their best in the sprint, but of course I did not expect Ilnur would do such a nice sprint and bring such a good result to the team. We are happy. This result gives us more motivation before the next stages," said team director José Azevedo.

Ilnur Zakarin is new to Team Katusha in 2015, but he has been part of the Russian Global Cycling Project for many years, racing for both ITERA-Katusha and Rusvelo teams before making the leap to WorldTour status.  With his past successes and motivation for more victories, Zakarin’s career looks both promising and bright.

The 55th edition of the Vuelta al País Vasco started on Monday for six days of racing in the Basque region of Spain. Stage 1 at 162,7 km began in the shadow of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, featured three climbs along the way before circling back into the city for the finish. 

A 3-man break went up the road to make up the break of the day. The group held more than three minutes while the main field kept track of their progress. By the third climb the break was over and attacks came often from the main field. But nothing could really stick on this first day of racing and the field sprint followed on the wide city streets of Bilbao.

The week is full of challenging climbs before a final time trial on the last day. Tuesday’s stage 2 is 175 km from Bilbao to Vitoria-Gasteiz with six rated climbs on the course.