Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) won Stage 3 of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco on Wednesday as he ended a long winless spell.

The Spaniard had not won a race for over a year but ended that drought with a fine win, beating Sergio Henao (Sky) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) in a three-man sprint for the line.

Henao moved to the top of the general classification, on the same time as Rodriguez and Quintana.

Four riders formed the day's breakaway on the 170.7 kilometre stage from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Zumarraga.

Hugh Carthy and Omar Fraile (Caja Rural), Lieuwe Westra (Astana) and Sander Armee (Lotto Soudal) were the riders to go clear, and the quartet held an advantage of three minutes with 65 kilometres remaining.

Fraile was able to claim enough points over the day's climbs to reclaim the King of the Mountains jersey before the peloton began to up the tempo.

Movistar were the team leading the chase as they tried to protect their leader Quintana. Cannondale-Garmin also made an effort on the front, but dropped back after their leader Andrew Talansky was involved in a heavy crash. The American was slow to get back on his bike after the painful spill, but was able to complete the stage.

Westra attacked the rest of the break on the first ascent of the Antigua and managed to establish a small advantage on the steep slopes.

By the time the second ascent of the 16 per cent climb arrived, however, Sky and Movistar had brought Westra and the remaining three breakaway riders back to the peloton. Sky's Vasil Kiriyenka attacked, but Rodriguez breezed past with Quintana, Michele Scarponi (Astana) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Eitxx-QuickStep) in tow.

 They were joined by Henao as the crowds grew denser towards the top of the climb. The Colombian attacked again and was joined by Rodriguez and Quintana over the top of the climb and onto the descent towards the finish.

With 150 metres to go, Henao started his sprint and held out almost to the line, but Rodriguez came round to take the win ahead of the Colombian duo.

"This win is so important to me as it has been more than a year since I won," Rodriguez said. "I’ve always had the good legs but I’ve had so much bad luck. I started to be afraid that the bad dream would never end.

"This is a new beginning for me. Thank you Team Katusha for the support during the day."