The 2025 Vuelta a Espana started Saturday with stage 1 – a 186.7-kilometer stage in flat terrain on a route from Torino to Novara in Italy. The Vuelta a Espana is the third and final Grand Tour of the season and many expected stage 1 to be decided in a sprint royale in the finish town of Novara with top sprint aces such as Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) included in the peloton.

The start list of Vuelta a Espana 2025 included prominent riders such as Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Ben O’Connor (Jayco-Alula), Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R), Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates), Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Filippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers). Defending Vuelta a Espana champion Primoz Roglic was not taking part in this year’s Vuelta as he was engaged in a dispute against his Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe team, which had recently signed Remco Evenepoel.

This year’s Vuelta a Espana saw the legendary race commence in Italy for the first time in history. Stage 1 of La Vuelta started in Venaria Reale, which is a majestic Baroque complex and a UNESCO heritage site. It was erected in the seventeenth century as a hunting lodge for the Savoys and features both a palace and spectacular gardens.

The cyclists then entered the streets of Torino (Turin) where spectators flooded the streets while honoring the race and celebrating its arrival in their home city. Turin is situated in northwestern Italy and is an important business and cultural center. It is the capital city of Piedmont and is known for its car industry and its rich political history. Turin was the capital of the Duchy of Savoy from 1563 and then of the Kingdom of Sardinia. It was also the first capital of Italy.

The weather conditions at the start line of stage 1 of Vuelta a Espana 2025 were sunny with temperatures around twenty-six degrees Celsius. The stage got off to a fast start and multiple attacks were launched. It did not take long before a six-man breakaway group got established. The group featured Koen Bouwman (Team Jayco-Alula), Alessandro Verre (Team Arkea B & B Hotels), Hugo de la Calle (Team Burgos Burpellet BH), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA), Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-QuickStep), and Nicolas Vinokurov. 

The front sextet had established a lead of approximately one minute after fifteen kilometers of fast racing. The sprinter teams in the peloton were eager to keep the action under control, so Alpecin-Deceuninck moved to the front of the main peloton to control the tempo. Starting the three-week race with well-rested legs and certain of their performance abilities, the main peloton cut the breakaway group a bit additional slack in the following kilometers, which caused their lead to expand to 01:30 minutes. Riders from Lidl-Trek and Bahrain-Victorious then joined the chase effort.

The riders approached La Serra with 120 kilometers remaining. The Category 3 climb would be the only climb on today’s racing menu and featured an average gradient of 5.3 percent over 6.5 kilometers. The advantage of the front group had increased to 02:15 minutes at this point.

Though the riders in the front group battled for the points for the best climber classification, the climb did not cause any significant changes to the overall race situation. Nicolau, Vinokurov, and Reinderink attacked 1.5 kilometers from the summit and fought for the points. Reinderink proved the strongest man at first, but Nicolau responded. Verre then launched a counterattack from behind and it became a fierce two-man contest to the summit line. Alessandro Verre proved the strongest rider and earned three points, while Nicolau had to settle for two.

The main peloton increased its speed in the following downhill kilometers, and the advantage had been reduced to less than a minute as the race approached the stage 1 intermediate sprint in Valdengo. The riders in the front group battled for the intermediate sprint win and Vinokurov and Reinderink formed a duo, which approached the sprint first. Renderink was first to cross the line and earned the most points for the points classification, while Vinokurov appeared to let the Dutchman win.

With no more intermediate points to be earned in today’s stage, five of the six breakaway activists stopped their work and fell back to the main peloton. All initiative now remained with Hugo de la Calle, who courageously pressed on as solo front rider while promoting his Burgos Burpellet BH team sponsors. 75 kilometers of stage 1 of this year’s Vuelta a Espana remained.

Despite flat terrain, the fight against the main peloton proved to be an uphill battle for de la Calle, whose advantage had been reduced to forty seconds with 64 kilometers remaining. 

De la Calle had an advantage of 25 seconds with 45 kilometers left. The sprinter teams in the main peloton were leading the chase effort and teams including Lidl-Trek, UAE Team Emirates and Alpecin-Deceuninck were contributing.

De la Calle was finally reeled in with approximately forty kilometers to the finish line in Novara. He could now relax and recover from within the peloton while hoping to have earned the prize of most competitive rider.

Twenty kilometers remained and the teams were slowly starting to prepare for the stage finale, which would likely be in the form of a mass sprint. General classification-focused teams were fighting to position their team captains well in the peloton, while riders from sprinter teams were lining up to support their sprint aces before setting up the sprint trains.

Five kilometers of stage 1 of Vuelta a Espana 2025 remained and the sprinter teams were setting a very fast pace for their respective sprinters while the GC teams were also positioning their GC favorites. Riders from Visma-Lease a Bike were spearheading the peloton with four kilometers left closely followed by most of the Alpecin-Deceuninck outfit.

Lidl-Trek riders were in front with Alpecin-Deceuninck competitors with two kilometers left. Team PremierTech then moved to the front with one kilometer to the finish line.

Alpecin-Deceuninck later took over and set up their sprint train. Jasper Philipsen launched his sprint as did Ethan Vernon. Jasper Philipsen proved the fastest man on the day and has won stage 1 of Vuelta a Espana 2025. Ethan Vernon finished second, while Orluis Aular completed the stage podium for Team Movistar.

Jasper Philipsen will wear the red leader jersey in Sunday’s stage 2.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Vuelta a Espana.