La Vuelta 2025: Jasper Philipsen storms to Stage 1 sprint win ahead of Ethan Vernon in Novara - 'A penalty kick'
Updated 23/08/2025 at 22:42 GMT+1
La Vuelta 2025 kicked off with a bang in northern Italy on Saturday afternoon, with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) taking the stage from Torino to Novara in style. The breakaway was established early, but never really looked like succeeding as the peloton kept it under control. Ethan Vernon took second, with Orlous Aular in third place.
Highlights: Philipsen wins Stage 1 with blistering sprint to claim red leader’s jersey
Video credit: TNT Sports
The opening stage of La Vuelta 2025 was designed to service the sprinters and so it came to pass, with the foremost fastman of the last few years, Jasper Philipsen, the one who came out on top.
Perfectly led into the finish by his Alpecin-Deceuninck team, Philipsen only had to put his nose in the wind inside the final 100 metres.
His perfect positioning and superior turn of speed put him in a different league to his rivals.
Rob Hatch described it on TNT Sports commentary as a "penalty kick" as Philipsen loomed into view, and the result was never in doubt as he returned to racing in style, having crashed out early from the Tour de France.
As well as the first red jersey, the Italian gran salida began with blank slates in all of the other jersey competitions as well. That meant opportunities and incentives further down the pack.
The battle for the break nonetheless lasted not as long as it might have, with six riders setting off and soon settling in.
Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step), Nicolas Vinokurov (XDS Astana), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Koen Bouwman (Jayco AlUla), Alessandro Verre (Burgos Burpellet BH) and Hugo De La Calle (Burgos Burpellet BH) got away cleanly and took set themselves to work.
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Philipsen takes red jersey with Stage 1 after ‘almost perfect’ sprint
Video credit: TNT Sports
Alpecin-Deceuninck, as the team of the stage favourite, were expected to hold their reins and duly kept them short.
At no point within the first two hours of racing did the gap go over two-and-a-half minutes.
The sole categorised climb, a long Cat. 3 coming 70km into the stage, was hotly contested by four of the six but mostly missed by the TV cameras and race jury.
Verre was eventually named the winner and provisional first King of the Mountains.
Fifteen kilometres later came the intermediate sprint at Valdengo, with Vinokourov making an early dash for it 1.5km out.
His effort served, however, only to set up Reinderink who took the maximum points and six bonus seconds.
With no more races within the race, after that five of the breakaway opted to call it off. Only De La Calle continued on, in an effort to secure the day's combativity award.
The Asturian debutant kept the bunch at bay for another hour, before handing the attention back to the sprint and GC teams.
The final 40km saw the race speed gradually increase as teams vied for position, but no-one else really challenged Alpecin's command over the peloton.
Through the flamme rouge, the Belgians allowed others teams to take over at the front, saving their powers in the confidence they could move back up whenever they wanted.
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That happened at the final roundabout, which came with 800m to go. Alpecin-Deceuninck opted for the opposite side to everyone else, which allowed them to restore their monopoly over the front of the race.
Philipsen was led into the final straight by two team-mates and when the last of them, Edward Planckaert, began to slow, he launched like a rocket.
So immaculately was he that he needed less than 80m to win by several bike lengths from Ethan Vernon (Israel Premier Tech.)
With it came the second Grand Tour leader's jersey of the season for Philipsen, which he described afterwards as "a nice present," especially "after my crash in the Tour [de France]."
"There are not many chances for a sprinter like me at this Vuelta, so it will be tough," he added.
The Vuelta continues with Stage 2 on Sunday, a second stage in Italy and the race's first uphill finish, expected to produce a new race leader.
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Watch and stream every stage of La Vuelta 2025 live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
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