Philipsen wins Vuelta stage one in sprint finish

Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin–Deceuninck won stage one of the Vuelta a Espana in a sprint finish on Saturday to take the red jersey in a repeat of his heroics in the first stage of the Tour de France where he registered his last Grand Tour stage win.

Philipsen had also taken the yellow jersey at last month's Tour before a serious crash, where he fractured his collarbone and needed surgery, ruled him out of the rest of the race two days later.

With a score to settle, the 27-year-old Belgian had the perfect lead-out from Alpecin–Deceuninck as he roared down the final stretch on the inside to claim victory ahead of Ethan Vernon of ProTeam Israel–Premier Tech and Movistar's Orluis Aular.

🤳 @JasperPhilipsen ❤️

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— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 23, 2025

"Winning is always a nice feeling and definitely when there is a reward like the red jersey, of course it's a nice present," Philipsen said.

"We managed to do our lead-out the way we wanted to... In the final kilometre, they executed it perfectly. I saw 175 metres to go and had to start sprinting, I'm really happy it worked out for us.

"After my crash in the Tour, I was really disappointed to be out... It was a setback. This was a nice goal, but I knew we only had one chance because there aren't many opportunities for a sprinter like me at this Vuelta."

As the Vuelta made its first-ever start in Italy on the largely flat 186.1 km (115.6 miles) ride from Turin to the town of Novara, which has hosted two Giro d'Italia finishes, six riders formed a breakaway and opened up a two-minute lead.

However, the peloton, controlled mainly by Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek, did its best to ensure the breakaway did not build a bigger lead.

Alessandro Verre claimed King of the Mountains points on the only categorised climb of the day on the ascent at La Serra, edging Joel Nicolau to the summit.

Hugo de la Calle then launched an audacious solo attack with 83 km to go while the peloton swallowed up the rest of the breakaway group and the Spanish rider stayed out in front to steadily build a lead.

With 50 km to go, De la Calle had a lead of about 40 seconds but the peloton was well in control, shaving 20 seconds off in the next 10 km.

But with no rider alongside him, the tiring De la Calle was inevitably caught with 38 km left, setting the stage for the sprint to the finish line.

From then on, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek took up their positions at the front before Philipsen had his day in the Italian sunshine.

STAGE 1 RESULTS

1. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin - Deceuninck 4:09:12

2. Ethan Vernon (GBR) Israel - Premier Tech "

3. Orluis Aular (VEN) Movistar Team "

4. Elia Viviani (ITA) Lotto "

5. Iván García Cortina (ESP) Movistar Team "

6. David González (ESP) Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team "

7. Bryan Coquard (FRA) Cofidis "

8. Thomas Silva (URU) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA "