Spaniard Joaquin Rodriguez, riding for the Katusha team, on Monday won a sprint finish for the 151.2km first stage of the Tour of the Basque Country arround Zumarraga. Rodriguez clocked 4:02:22 to finish just ahead of compatiot Samuel Sanchez, riding for Euskaltel, who is one of the race favourites, and Germany's Andreas Kloeden of RadioShack. The challengers attacked on the final climb of the day, the second category Col de La Antigua, led first by last year's race winner Chris Horner of the United States. He was quickly reeled in, however, after taking a lead of several meters. Rodriguez lead the Tour of Spain last year before falling by the wayside during the 17th stage individual time trial.