After yellow now red! Philipsen completes perfect lead-out and hits double in first stage of the Vuelta

No start in Spain this time, nor in Portugal like the 2024 Vuelta. Instead, the race kicked off in Italy: Piemonte set the stage, with Turin as the starting point. And while the Vuelta often begins with a team time trial or a tough uphill stage, this year’s opener was one for the fast men. The red jersey would go to a sprinter!

From the start, there was little resistance for the breakaway: six riders quickly formed the day’s first lead group. Among them were two Dutchmen, Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step) and Koen Bouwman (Jayco-AlUla), joined by Nicolas Vinokourov (XDS-Astana), Alessandro Verre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA), and Hugo de la Calle (Burgos – Burpellet BH). Their lead was quickly kept under control by Alpecin-Deceuninck, who took responsibility from the outset.

The breakaway riders were given the chance to fight for the mountain points. The climb to La Serra was the only one of the day, and whoever reached the top first would earn the blue polka-dot jersey. For the six riders out front, that was the main goal of the day, a stage win simply wasn’t realistic. So a proper battle broke out on the slopes of that climb.

Vinokourov was the first to accelerate, with only Nicolau and Reinderink able to follow. With 1 kilometer to go, the Dutchman launched a solo move and looked to be on his way to a nice prize. But suddenly, from behind, Verre came flying past, and over the top. Nicolau managed to hang on, but who won the sprint? The camera had missed it, so it was a long wait for the official result. In the end, Verre turned out to be the strongest, claiming the jersey on home soil.

The battle for mountain points disrupted the cooperation in the breakaway group, especially with the intermediate sprint coming up. Vinokourov tried to surprise his breakaway companions with an attack, but Reinderink was alert, jumped on his wheel, and then outsprinted the Kazakh. It earned the Dutch debutant twenty points and six bonus seconds.

After the intermediate sprint, most of the breakaway group had seen enough. They allowed themselves to be reeled in by the peloton, with only the brave De la Calle still motivated to press on with the attack. For the sprint teams, the situation was ideal. They initially kept the gap at one minute, but the high pace quickly reduced that lead. With 38 kilometers to go, De la Calle was finally caught.

As the peloton neared the finish line, the speed increased, and so did the nerves. Especially in the final 10 kilometers: anyone who had studied the race book knew positioning would be crucial in the last stretch. Visma | Lease a Bike, and in particular Victor Campenaerts, did an excellent job keeping Jonas Vingegaard in perfect position, and Alpecin-Deceuninck was also very present at the front.

Visma | Lease a Bike also had Axel Zingle as their sprinter. Mads Pedersen, a favorite for the green jersey, naturally showed himself at the front as well. But it was Jasper Philipsen’s squad who did the best job keeping their sprinter perfectly placed. The lead-out was flawless, and from there, the win was a formality for the Belgian.