Jasper Philipsen takes Vuelta a España red jersey after sprinting to stage one win

Jasper Philipsen sprinted to stage 1 glory at La Vuelta a España as the race got underway in Turin to claim the first leaders' red jersey of the 2025 edition.

Alpecin-Deceuinck dominated the final kilometre to guide Philipsen to the line with ease as he took his fourth career stage win at the Spanish Grand Tour ahead of Brit Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) and Orluis Aular (Movistar).

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was expected to be Philipsen's closest challenger, but the former world champion was boxed-out of it and finished outside the top-10. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) showed his intent with an impressive 9th place among the big sprinters.

In the final 5km, Visma-Lease a Bike had control of the peloton hoping to protect Jonas Vingegaard as well as they could with Alpecin-Deceuninck not far behind in support of Philipsen. The Belgian squad launched with perfect timing in the finale, allowing Philipsen to bounce back from the disappointment of crashing-out of the Tour de France last month.

"After my crash in the tour, I was really disappointed to be out. You work really long for it and it's been a major goal. It's a setback. You have to find new goals," the Belgian said to the TV cameras afterwards.

"This was a nice goal. There's not many opportunities for a sprinter like me at this Vuelta. It will be tough."

Philipsen praised his team-mates after the finish.

"The team was very strong. With Jonas [Rickaert] and Edward [Planckaert] in the final kilometre, they executed perfect."

"I just saw 175 metres ahead of me and I had to start sprinting. I'm really happy that it worked out for us."

Philipsen will wear the red jersey heading into stage two, as the peloton take on the first uphill finish of the race at Limone Piemonte.

How it Happened

The 80th edition of La Vuelta a España kicked off in Turin with a stage that will become something of a rarity over the next three weeks: an opportunity for the sprinters. The parcours for the 2025 race is brutal, so the fast-men in the bunch were motivated on the opening day to capitalise as in all likelihood, one of them would be snatching the first leaders’ red jersey.

Much of the stage was a rather benign affair, with six riders moving away from the bunch to form a breakaway. The riders off the front were: Alessandro Verre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-QuickStep), Nicolas Vinokurov (XDS-Astana), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Koen Bouwman (Jayco-AlUla) and Hugo De La Calle (Burgos-Burpellet-BH).

Their lead never grew out beyond two-and-a-half minutes, with the likes of Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek) and Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Deceuninck) riding hard for stage favourites Mads Pedersen and Jasper Philipsen.

Verre crested the only categorised climb of the day in first place to take the lead in the KOM classification. After that, with the gap to the peloton shortening, the co-operation in the break broke down. De La Calle moved solo - with the rest being claimed by the bunch - and would be the last man remaining with 80km still to ride.

The Vuelta debutant would hang less than a minute ahead of the bunch for the next hour of racing before being swallowed up, as the race rolled ominously towards the inevitable final sprint in Novara, birthplace of the legendary Italian cyclist Giuseppe Saronni.

As the riders made their way into the final 20km, with the crescendo building towards the final dash, UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike elbowed their way to the front as they looked to keep their GC favourites out of trouble through the road furniture. They were joined by several teams, with the peloton on block across the road.

The pace ratcheted-up in the final three kilometres, with Visma out front as the sprinters’ teams looked to pounce. It was Alpecin-Deceuninck who took charge of the final kilometre with Rickaert and Planckaert in front of Philipsen.

The Belgian launched with less than 200 metres to go and no-one could get close to him as he took the red jersey in Novara.

Results

Vuelta a España stage 1, Torino > Novara (186.1km)

1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 4:09:12
2. Ethan Vernon (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech
3. Orluis Aular (Ven) Movistar
4. Elia Viviani (Ita) Lotto
5. Iván García Cortina (Spa) Movistar
6. David González (Spa) Q36.5
7. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis
8. Thomas Silva (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
9. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5
10. Madis Mihkels (Est) EF Education-EasyPost, all same time

General classification after stage 1

1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 4:09:02
2. Ethan Vernon (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech, +4s
3. Pepijn Reinderink (Ned) Soudal-QuickStep, +4s
4. Orluis Aular (Ven) Movistar, +6s
5. Nicolas Vinokurov (Kaz) XDS-Astana, +6s
6. Koen Bouwman (Ned) Jayco-AlUla, +8s
7. Elia Viviani (Ita) Lotto, +10s
8. Iván García Cortina (Spa) Movistar, +10s
9. David González (Spa) Q36.5, +10s
10. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis, +10s