Just a few weeks after he claimed the first Maillot Jaune of the Tour de France, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninnk) powered to victory in Novara, on day 1 of La Vuelta 25 and thus conquered La Roja as the first overall leader of the race. The Belgian sprinter achieves a successful comeback, four years after his last participation in the Spanish Grand Tour - he already claimed three star wins across the 2020 and 2021 editions - and a month and half after crashing out of the Tour de France with a collarbone injury. On a mostly flat course, his team took control early in the day to control the breakaway. And the Belgian sprinter was heads and shoulder above his rivals, with Great Britain’s Ethan Vernon (Israel Premier Tech) coming 2nd ahead of Venezuela’s Orluis Aular (Movistar) while Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) had to settle for 14th.
Starting from Reggia di Venaria and parading through prestigious venues in Turin, the 184-man reach km 0 at 13:30. And attackers show their grit - a rider from EF Education-EasyPost immediately sets off, but he’s rapidly reeled in.
6 attackers vs 2 hungry sprinters
It takes 2.5 kilometres for a group of five at the front of the race with Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step), Nicolas Vinokurov (XDS Astana), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Koen Bouwman (Jayco AlUla) and Hugo de la Calle (Burgos Burpellet BH). Alessandro Verre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) immediately joins them to make it a 6-man breakaway, including three debutants in La Vuelta (Reinderink, De la Calle and Verre).
Mads Pedersen’s Lidl-Trek and Jasper Philipsen’s Alpecin-Deceuninck quickly take the reins of the bunch, trying to control the breakaway to ensure a bunch sprint that could favour the two main favourites for today’s stage. In May, Pedersen won the opening stage of the Giro, claiming the first Maglia Rosa. He went on to win three more stages, as well as the points standings.
As for Philipsen, he sprinted to the Maillot Jaune early July, in Lille, before crashing out of the Tour de France two days later. Will one of them also claim La Roja, today in Novara?
Battling for (KOM) points
The gap never gets much higher than 2 minutes en route to the climb of the day - La Serra (cat. 3, summit at km 70.5). Vinokurov and Reinderink try to surprise their rivals with a long range attack. But Verre proves to be the strongest at the summit, narrowly getting the better of Nicolau to all but secure the first polka-dot jersey of La Vuelta 25. At the summit, the peloton trail by 2’15’’ - that’s the maximum gap of the day.
Vinokurov attacks again ahead of the intermediate sprint (Valdengo, km 96.2). And Reinderink follows him again. This time, the Dutch goes first on the line. Meanwhile, the peloton move much closer. With 85 kilometres to go, the attackers are already caught, except for De la Calle, who pushes on and shows, at 21 years old, why Spain looks at him as one of the hottest rising talents.
Philipsen conquers Novara
The young rider pushes on and gets his lead back up to 1 minute. But with Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck still setting the pace, he’s eventually caught with 38 kilometres to go to Novara, a city that already smiled on Eddy Merckx and Tim Merlier at the Giro d’Italia.
The tension increases as the peloton gets closer to Novara and to the first mass gallop of La Vuelta 25. Alpecin-Deceuninck drive the bunch in the last kilometre, while Pedersen is caught behind. Philipsen proves to be, by far, the strongest of this sprint, powering to La Roja ahead of Great Britain’s Ethan Vernon (Israel Premier Tech) and Venezuela’s Orluis Aular (Movistar).
