The first stage of the Iturria women's race ended with a group sprint, but before that, it was time for the breakaway artists, including a former Olympic rower, to shine.

Stine Dale (Team Cope-Repsol) and Valentina Cavallar (Arkea-B&B Hotels) were the favorites to win the Combat Award for Dale, while Cavallar, who represented Austria in rowing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, now leads in the mountains.

Dale made his move when Petra Stiasny (Phoenix-Desseuninck) attacked with 63km to go and took the race lead with the Swiss.

"I trusted my instincts and followed her," Dale told Cycling News after the opening stage, which was won by Misha Bredewald (SD Works-Pro Time).

"There was a gap on the second categorized climb, and DS's tone was on the radio, telling me I should ride for the mountain points."

"I didn't intend to escape on the climb, but I knew I had to pick up the pace to pull away from the peloton. But the Arkea rider attacked me from the peloton and passed me at breakneck speed."

Before switching to cycling last year, Cavallar competed as a rower in the women's lightweight double scull event at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Austrian, who joined Arcare B&B Hotels this year and made her Women's World Tour debut in La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, scored maximum points on the climb of Azcarate, joining Dale after the descent.

"She is a strong climber and I knew if I could catch her again we could keep riding together. We had a good working relationship and were able to keep the peloton at bay for a while. She was a good partner on the run," Dale said.

On the final climb to Itziar, Cavallar took the mountain points alone and the mountains jersey, but was caught on the descent.

"I really enjoyed the race. I love climbing and I had a chance. Of course it wasn't easy. I wanted to make it to the finish, but the race was too long," he said in a TV interview after the stage.

"The climb on stage 3 is really steep and small, so the distance will be short and very technical. I would love to climb it again with the first stage, but it won't be easy," he said, referring to defending his polka-dot jersey in the remaining two days of the race.

Dale gained a bonus 3 seconds in the first intermediate sprint of the day and is now in 5th place on GC.

"I'm at the top of the GC right now. It would be unbelievable if I could stay at the top! We have two hard stages coming up, so we need to be at our best for the next two days."