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Jasper Philipsen repeated the feat he achieved at the Tour de France, winning the opening stage of the Vuelta a España and, with it, taking the first leader’s jersey.
The Belgian received a perfect leadout from his Alpecin-Deceuninck team, easily winning into Novara ahead of Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech), Orluis Aular (Movistar Team), Elia Viviani (Lotto) and the rest of the main bunch.
“Winning is always a nice feeling and definitely when there is a reward like a jersey, the red jersey,” he said. “So of course it is a nice present.
“After my crash in the Tour, I was really disappointed to be out. We worked really long for it and it was a major goal and then it is a setback. You have to find new goals. This was a nice goal. I knew we only had one chance because there are not many opportunities for a sprinter like me at this Vuelta, it will be tough.”
The result shows he has returned to fine form after his stage 3 crash in the Tour de France. He fell heavily in an intermediate sprint and suffered a fracture to his right collarbone. He worked hard since then and while he had to be happy with fourth in the recent ADAC Cyclassics, he seems in impressive condition in the Vuelta.
His expected sprint rival Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) missed out in the sprint, finishing back in 14th place.
Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) was best of the GC names, taking ninth.
Race favorite Jonas Vingegaard finished safely in the main bunch after his Visma-Lease a Bike did a block of work to keep him in good position.
Six go early, one goes solo
Hugo De La Calle was part of the day’s breakaway and later went solo, gaining important publicity for his Burgos-Burpellet-BH team (Photo: Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)
The stage from Torino-Reggia di Venaria to Novara was 186.7km in length and mainly flat, with just one category three climb on the menu. This was located before the halfway point and therefore would have no effect on the final result.
The day’s break wasted no time in getting established, with Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step), Nicolas Vinokurov (XDS Astana Team), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA), Koen Bouwman (Team Jayco AlUla), Alessando Verre (Arkéa – B&B Hotels) and Hugo de la Calle (Burgos Burpellet BH) clipping away almost immediately after the drop of the flag.
They built a gap of more than two minutes but the peloton didn’t give them much freedom.
Verre was best at the top of the category 3 climb of La Serra (km 70.5) while Reinderink took the top time bonus in the sprint at Valdengo (km. 96).
De la Calle went solo 84km from the finish, securing important publicity for his wildcard team before he was finally caught with 39km remaining.
The sprinters’ teams focused on the job at hand to set things up for their protected riders, while other squads did likewise for their GC contenders. The speed was hectic heading towards the line, with Visma Lease a Bike spending a lot of time at the front for Jonas Vingegaard.
“I really have to thank my teammates again, just like the Tour,” Philipsen said, shortly before receiving the red jersey as race leader.
“We managed to do our leadout like we wanted to do. For sure all the team was very strong, definitely also with Jonas [Rickaert] and Edward [Planckaert]. In the final kilometer they executed perfect and I just saw 175 meters to go only and I had to start sprinting. I am really happy that it works out for us.”
He achieved an important feat in his victory, becoming the first rider in a long, long time to win the opening stage in both the Tour and the Vuelta.
Fabian Cancellara is the last rider
to win the 1st stage (ITT, prologue or normal stage)
in Tour de France & #LaVuelta in the SAME year (2009).
Last rider to win the 1st ‘normal’ stages in TDF & Vuelta in same year: Rik Van Looy, 1965.
Jasper Philipsen can join them today.
— Jonas Creteur (@jonascreteur.bsky.social) August 23, 2025 at 2:22 PM
“I already had some bad luck this season but also some very nice victories together with the Tour win and this one,” he said. “So that makes it very sweet.”
What’s next
Philipsen looks almost guaranteed to lose the red jersey on Sunday, with the riders facing a long category 2 climb to the finish in Limone Piemonte. Look for Vingegaard or another GC rider to show their form, gaining an early boost to morale.