Vuelta 2025 Stage 1 Preview: Sprinters Battle for Red Jersey

The 2025 Vuelta a España will not start in Spain, but in Italy. On Saturday, it will not be a Gran Salida, but a Grande Partenza in Turin. The opening stage features over 1,300 meters of climbing, but it seems suitable for sprinters. The finish comes after a flat finale in the streets of Novara. WielerFlits looks ahead.

Route

For the first time in history, the Vuelta a España begins in Italy. Turin, the second-largest city in northern Italy, is the setting for the Gran Salida. This means that the Italian automobile city will have hosted the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España within a little under eighteen months. In 2024, Turin was the finish location of stage three in the Tour de France.

The opening stage is not particularly tough. The organizers are skipping the Superga climb this time. In total, about 185 kilometers must be covered between the finish town Novara and Turin. The route designer managed to include 1,300 meters of elevation, mainly due to the ascent of La Serra (6.8 km at 5.1%) after about seventy kilometers.

After La Serra, the first Vuelta stage rolls over gently undulating terrain. The last twenty kilometers are virtually flat, so we can almost certainly expect a bunch sprint. The last time the Giro finished in Novara, Tim Merlier won ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo and Elia Viviani.

It therefore looks like a sprinter will don the first red jersey of the Vuelta. Luckily, the last 2.7 kilometers of the stage are as straight as possible. Hopefully, this will help limit the number of crashes.

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Arrancamos! Or should we say: Andiamo? This coming Saturday, it’s finally happening. The eightieth edition of the Vuelta a España begins in the Italian city of Turin. In this third and final Grand Tour of 2025, climbers and punchers traditionally get their chances, but on the opening stage it seems the fast men will be in charge. The laid-out route to the finish in Novara includes – apart from the climb to La Serra – no significant obstacles and is tailor-made for the sprinters.

In the Vuelta, however, top sprinters are often hard to come by, as the number of sprint opportunities is usually limited to just a handful. Tim Merlier, Jonathan Milan, Olav Kooij, Biniam Girmay... They will not go head-to-head in the coming three weeks on Italian and then Spanish soil. But this doesn’t mean all the top sprint talents are sitting this one out. With Jasper Philipsen (at least, it seems so), there is indeed a big sprint name present.

Will Jasper Philipsen blast off with a win? - photo: Cor Vos

The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider was initially not scheduled to ride the three-week race, but after a crash in the recent Tour de France the Belgian had to completely change his plans, and suddenly the Vuelta came into view. His preparation did not go as planned – in his crash in the Tour de France he broke his collarbone and several ribs – but the Flemish Ham managed to get ready just in time for two important tune-up races, the Tour of Denmark and the ADAC Cyclassics.

Before his trip to Denmark, Philipsen already expressed his Vuelta ambitions, but he kept a big caveat ("I am really motivated to start there, but with my limited preparation we’ll have to see what is realistic"). With a fourth place in the stage to Gladsaxe, the fast man already put his nose to the window once. What he showed next in the one-day ADAC Cyclassics – Philipsen was again fourth after a tough race with multiple passages over the Waseberg – bodes very well.

In other words, Philipsen seems ready to play a leading role in the upcoming Vuelta a España and is perhaps the fastest rider on paper at the start, but we still put forward another rider as the top favorite for the first stage win and red jersey. His name? Mads Pedersen. After the Tour of Denmark, we can hardly ignore the former world champion. The leader of Lidl-Trek made an enormous impression on home soil. Pedersen did not present just one, but several cards with an eye on the Vuelta a España.

Pedersen won no fewer than three stages on Danish soil and was by far the best in the overall classification. The way he shattered the peloton with a long solo in the queen stage to Velje was downright impressive. It is clear that the classics specialist and sprinter is ready to shine in the last Grand Tour of the season. Pedersen’s intrinsic speed may be slightly behind the very best Philipsen, but given his current form and flawless preparation, he has an edge.

If the opening stage ends in a sprint, we are likely to see a duel between Philipsen and Pedersen, but this doesn’t mean the competition is out of the running for victory right from the start. While two riders fight for a stage win, Casper van Uden might just grab it. The fast Dutchman proved earlier this year in the Giro d'Italia that he can win a stage in a Grand Tour. On his debut in a three-week race, he struck immediately by beating the clear favorite Olav Kooij in the first real sprint opportunity in Lecce.

For the sprint weapon of Picnic PostNL, this was his breakthrough at the very highest level. We are curious whether he can maintain this momentum in the upcoming Vuelta a España. Van Uden will eagerly seize the first sprint chance, knowing that pure sprinters won’t get many opportunities to snag a stage victory. This also applies to a rider like Arne Marit. The Belgian is positioned by his team Intermarché-Wanty – in the absence of the aforementioned Girmay and Gerben Thijssen – as the designated finisher.

The 26-year-old Marit has not yet won this year but was second in a stage of the Santos Tour Down Under, fourth in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, and third in the Lotto Famenne Ardenne Classic. He also raced the Vuelta last year, where his best result was fourth in a stage. Can he aim higher in the coming weeks?

Another Belgian team at the start, Lotto, relies on (with all due respect) veteran Elia Viviani. The prime years of the now 36-year-old Italian are behind him, but Viviani still has days when he can come out surprisingly fast. He won a stage in the Tour of Turkey earlier this year and was third in the Elfstedentocht race. Can the former top sprinter turn back the clock and strike like in the old days?

Someone who can also surprise in a sprint is Ethan Vernon. The 24-year-old rider often flies under the radar but manages to score victories every year. And they are not minor achievements: he sprinted to a WorldTour-level win this spring in the Tour of Catalonia. If his team Israel-Premier Tech manages to deliver Vernon well in the final few hundred meters, the Brit is a very dangerous customer. Together with Jake Stewart (who might also take sprint duties), Vernon forms a more than interesting sprint duo.

There’s more, as we also see fast men on the start list like Madis Mihkels (EF Education-EasyPost), Bryan Coquard, and Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Cofidis). Mihkels has shown that he can occasionally compete with the best sprinters in the world – recall the recent European Championships in Hasselt, where the Estonian won a bronze medal – but so far this has been too sporadic.

Another rider we want to highlight is Thibaud Gruel. Not everyone may have noticed, but the 21-year-old Groupama-FDJ rider is having a stellar season. The fast Frenchman has already recorded seventeen top-ten finishes this year and secured his first two professional wins. With his youthful energy, speed, and climbing ability, he is a very interesting outsider.

A quick word about INEOS Grenadiers: the British team also has sprint potential in Filippo Ganna. Of course, the Italian is primarily known as a time trial and strongman rider, but he should not be underestimated as a sprinter. The multiple world champion against the clock has thrown himself successfully into sprint finishes in the past. We should certainly keep his name in mind—if only pencil it in—as after his very early withdrawal from the Tour de France, Ganna will be looking for sporting revenge.

Finally, we also want to mention these names: Axel Zingle (Visma | Lease a Bike), Orluis Aular (Movistar), Jenthe Biermans (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Ivo Oliveira (UAE Emirates XRG), Nicolò Buratti (Bahrain Victorious), and – why not – Tim van Dijke (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe).

Weather and TV

The riders certainly can't complain about the weather, as according to Weeronline it will remain mostly dry on Saturday. In the start town of Turin, temperatures will be around 22 degrees Celsius, while in Novara the mercury will rise to 25 degrees Celsius. The weak southeast wind will not play a significant role along the way.