Vuelta a Espana 2025 Stage 1 LIVE - Jasper Philipsen with his sights set on red as 2025 Vuelta opens with Italian job

Once upon a time, they wouldn't call this flat. That final climb is a whisker under 10km and averages 5.3%, so it's safe to say we'll have a new red jersey in 24 hours. Will it be a real red jersey contender?

See you all tomorrow.

1. Jasper Philipsen
2. Ethan Vernon
3. Orluis Aular
4. Elia Viviani
5. Ivan Garcia Cortina

Just as it was last time in Novara, so it is again. It was control and precision from his team all the way to the finish. Textbook. Rob Hatch described it as "a penalty kick in an open goal" and I couldn't agree more. You barely needed to watch it to know what was happening. He won by three or four bike lengths in the end.

Kwiatkowski has confidence in Ben Turner. Visma took no chances there, keeping on the gas, not giving way when you thought they would. Eventually they do move aside. Last roundabout.

Lotto coming up for Elia Viviani on the right hand side. Jay Vine has dropped off, better to avoid the chaos.

After that it's relatively straightforward, apart from three more roundabouts. Easier said than done as Alpecin take one side of the road, Visma the other. Victor Campenaerts is doing Victor Campenaerts things into Novara.

That means if a rider picks up a mechanical or is caught in a crash, they will finish on the same time as the group they were in. That doesn't mean the GC is neutralized at that point, because a natural split will still count against them. Vigilence must be maintained, as the peloton powers along at more than 50kph. The moment of truth is nearly upon us as we sail over the rice fields of Novara. Just road furniture to negotiate now.

We've entered the final phase and it's really nervous. I know I like to talk about this being the most fun of the Grand Tours, but that doesn't mean it isn't serious business. Let's just hope nobody takes any excessive risks.

Into Oleggio and we see a hunching over their bars and an increased urgency as they fight for position through a roundabout. So much urgency was on display you'd have thought it was the final five. Presumably the DSs had been in their ears telling them to be in position.

The yellow team and the white team are there largely for their GC ambitions, the rest presumably have end of stage ambitions. Picnic are certainly looking out for Casper van Uden, who would like to add a Vuelta stage to his collection, having been a surprise success story in the first week of the Giro.

The ticker says ten seconds, and a look back down the road behind him tells him it's time at the bar. A more than respectable outing for the Grand Tour debutant.

Which is, as Rob Hatch notes, odd, because it hasn't felt like a plodder. Indeed the speed has been perfectly respectable at 44kph. I'm inclined to blame the casual neutral rollout. Meanwhile, we're treated to a disarming overhead shot of Lake Maggiore, as the race has reached Arona.

He took his first big win earlier this month in Poland, having scored a 3rd place on a stage of the Giro d'Italia back in May. He'd be an outsider but don't rule him out being up there in Novara.

Or at least he had them earlier. De La Calle has 28 seconds.

And given he's done that, we might as well mention them. As well as Burgos, BH and Burpellet they are:

Cortizo, who seem to be involved in construction, Siroko athletic wear, Spirit apartments, FSA, Ekoi, Vision, Skoka and Gopass Contrucciones. If you work for one of them, your boy from Asturias has 45 seconds on the bunch.

It's a question that's been burning for a while now, with fuel added to it by a number of the stages i covered in Le Tour, and which Matt has added voice to here. It can't be a coincidence that the breakaway calls it a day once the intermediate and KOM sprints are done and dusted. There was no way they were going the distance, and De La Calle is only flogging himself for the one remaining reward.

All bar Hugo de la Calle is back in the fold, so the reported time gap was probably roughly accurate. That doesn't explain why they've extinguished the escape this far out from the finish in Novara, because surely it invites counterattacks. Or maybe not. The Burgos rider is now nailed on for the combativity prize.

The young Kazakh seemed to deliver the T-Rex rider to the line. Odd one. That also comes with 6 bonus seconds.

He's caught the others by surprise, 1.5km out from the line, as Reinderink is the only rider able to react.