Jasper Philipsen fulfills the predictions in the first stage of La Vuelta 2025

The 90th edition of La Vuelta 2025 began with a flat stage in Italian lands and a script for a sprint finish that was executed perfectly by Jasper Philipsen, who once again showed that no one can overshadow him in a pure sprint nowadays.

La Vuelta a España 2025 starts with a sprint finish

La Vuelta 2025 kicked off with a stage tailored for sprinters after a route between Reggia di Venaria, on the outskirts of Turin, and Novara. 186 kilometers with the only difficulty being the climb of La Serra, a small 3rd category ascent placed almost solely to determine the wearer of the mountain jersey from tomorrow onwards.

A day in which the breakaway was formed almost from the start after the sprinters' teams blocked the fight for it, consisting of 6 cyclists: Pepijn Reinderink, Nicolas Vinokurov, Joel Nicolau, Koen Bouwman, Alessandro Verre, and Hugo de la Calle.

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From that moment on, the stage became uneventful, with only the passage of the climb providing minimal excitement in determining who would be the first wearer of the mountain jersey, a title that Alessandro Verre would claim in a tight sprint with Joel Nicolau. The breakaway extended their adventure until the intermediate sprint, where Reinderink took the points, and after that point, they were practically caught, with still 85 kilometers of the stage ahead.

Only Hugo de la Calle would keep the breakaway alive after increasing the pace again and allowing the peloton a lead of almost a minute, but his adventure would last until he was caught less than 40 km from the finish.

In the final 10 kilometers, the race would accelerate definitively with a Visma-Lease a Bike team taking the lead to avoid problems while demonstrating tremendous superiority, reducing the peloton to a small group that would contest the finish in the last two kilometers.
In the final kilometers, Alpecin-Decenuninck used their numerical advantage to perfectly position Jasper Philipsen, who claimed the first stage and the red jersey without any opposition.

Stage 1 Classification

1. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 4h09'12''
2. Ethan Vernon (Israel-PremierTech) +00''
3. Ourluis Aular (Movistar) +00''
4. Elia Viviani (Lotto) +00''
5. Ivan García Cortina (Movistar) +00''
6. David González (Q36.5) +00''
7. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) +00''
8. Guillermo Thomas Silva (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) +00''
9. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5) +00''
10. Madis Mihkels (EF Education-EasyPost) +00''