Jasper Philipsen won the opening stage of the Vuelta a España. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider convincingly took the bunch sprint in Novara. Ethan Vernon and Orluis Aular finished second and third, while Mads Pedersen had no chance. Naturally, Philipsen also became the first wearer of the red jersey.
On Saturday, the Vuelta started with a stage in... Italy. In the large city of Turin, the riders began the final Grand Tour of the season. After 186.7 kilometers, the finish awaited following an almost completely flat stage. So it seemed beforehand that the sprinters would contest the first red jersey.
Torino) Novara)Bouwman and Reinderink on the attack
Shortly after the start, we saw the first attacks of this Vuelta. It didn’t take long before the early breakaway formed. Ultimately, six riders went clear: Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step), Koen Bouwman (Jayco AlUla), Alessandro Verre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Nicolas Vinokourov (Astana Qazaqstan), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), and Hugo de la Calle (Burgos Burpellet BH).
The peloton at the start in Turin - photo: Cor Vos
The six rode together to the first and only categorized climb of the day, La Serra (6.5 kilometers at 5.2%). At the summit were the first (and only) mountain points of the stage, resulting in a thrilling battle for the polka dot jersey. It was Dutchman Reinderink who was very active and made an early attempt to claim the points. Too early, it turned out, as Nicolau and Verre overtook him in the final meters. In the end, Verre won the sprint and became the first leader of the mountain classification.
Control by Pedersen and Philipsen
Meanwhile, in the peloton, control was taken by the riders of Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck. They led the pace in support of team leaders Mads Pedersen and Jasper Philipsen. Because of this, the gap to the early escapees never grew large. With 100 kilometers to go, it was only 50 seconds.
In other words, it quickly became clear that the sprinter teams would not be caught off guard by the breakaway on Saturday. Flat sprint finishes are quite rare in this Tour of Spain, so riders like Pedersen and Philipsen— the two main favorites for the opening stage — were not going to miss this opportunity.
Waiting for the sprint
The escapees realized they had no chance, so five of the six attackers allowed themselves to be reeled in by the peloton. Only De la Calle stayed ahead, giving some extra exposure to his team. With 40 kilometers to go, De la Calle’s effort ended as he was caught without much fuss by the peloton.
In the final ten kilometers, Alpecin-Deceuninck was still at the front of the peloton. Lidl-Trek trailed somewhat, unlike the yellow-clad men of Visma Lease a Bike. Led by a busy Victor Campenaerts, they ensured Jonas Vingegaard could safely navigate toward the finish.
Campenaerts held out for quite a while, up to three kilometers to go. Afterwards, the sprinter teams took over again, setting up the expected bunch sprint in Novara.
No one close to Philipsen
Alpecin-Deceuninck executed a perfect lead-out. Philipsen was able to launch his sprint late, and there was nothing the Belgian from Ham could no longer be challenged. Ethan Vernon tried to get close to the fast Belgian but was unsuccessful. The Brit came second from a great distance, with Orluis Aular finishing third. Pedersen was poorly positioned and fell outside the top 10. Thanks to his win, Philipsen is the first leader of this Vuelta.
Bouwman at the front of the breakaway group - photo: Cor Vos
Vuelta a España| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 04:09:12 | |
| 2 | " | |
| 3 | " | |
| 4 | " | |
| 5 | " | |
| 6 | " | |
| 7 | " | |
| 8 | " | |
| 9 | " | |
| 10 | " |
