Jasper Philipsen won Saturday’s Italian opening stage of the 80th Vuelta a España to pull on the first red jersey. Philipsen also won the first stage of the Tour de France and wore yellow for a single day before crashing out early.
The Course
Heading northeast from Torino before diving south to Novara, Stage 1 would be one for the sprinters. A single categorized climb meant that there would be someone clad in the white-polka-dots-on-blue KOM jersey at the end of the day.
A few teams were wearing change kits for the race, the squads that usually sport red not wanting to clash with the Vuelta’s leader’s jersey.
A six-pack of fugitives including two Spanish ProTeam riders isn’t too shabby for the first day of a Grand Tour. It was established right after the start and wasn’t given free rein. At the categorized climb of La Serra, the break’s gap was 2:15. The escape’s sole Italian, Alessandro Verre of Arkea-B&B Hotels, sprang away at the peak to claim the 80th edition’s first category lead.
The gap shrank before the Vuelta’s first intermediate sprint in Valdengo. Hugo De la Calle was the final fugitive to get swallowed up after a long solo effort.
De la Calle sopped up with 40 km to go, it was time for Act III’s sprint plot. Visma-Lease a Bike, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek were prominent at the front. Inside 2 km to go Pier-André Côté pulled for Ethan Vernon. Alpecin bossed the front inside the final kilometre. On the right hand barrier Philipsen had the shorter line than Vernon and prevailed in the sprint.
Sunday is the first of 11 summit or uphill finishes, this time on Cat. 2 Limone Piemonte.
2025 Vuelta a España Stage 1
1) Jasper Philipsen (Belgium/Alpecin-Deceuninck 4:09:12
2) Ethan Vernon (Great Britain/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
3) Orluis Aular (Venezuela/Movistar) s.t.
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