Was it ever really in doubt? Of course Jasper Philipsen was going to win stage one of the 2025 Vuelta a España. He’s the best sprinter in the race, and competing against no one else who could be considered a thoroughbred sprinter. He won the opening stage of the Tour de France against those pure fast men, and then rocked up to Italy for the start of the Spanish Grand Tour to take on a collection of C-class sprinters. Supported by the world’s best leadout train, Philipsen comfortably, confidently, convincingly triumphed.
After crashing out of the Tour with a broken collarbone on stage three, he recovered quickly – “the rehab went faster than the doctors and I expected,” he said – but he didn’t win in the five stages of the Tour of Denmark, and he was subsequently foiled at the ADAC Cyclassics by a courageous Rory Townsend. In some quarters – namely the teams of his Vuelta’s rivals – there was a school of thought that Philipsen might have returned to racing relatively soon, but his form was not where it was at the beginning of July.
Incorrect – or wishful thinking, rather. The first stage of the Vuelta was not to be an insurmountable task. Of course it wasn’t going to be. You can beat Jasper Philipsen in smaller races, but at Grand Tours he turns up, brings along his trusted merry men, and wins. Always wins.
Stage one’s breakaway – surprisingly large given the flat parcours, numbering six riders – was swept up an hour before the finale in Novara – the finishing town of the first ever Vuelta start in Italy – and though the last 10km had its nervy and stressful moments, Philipsen was protected expertly throughout by his two bodyguards, Jonas Rickaert and Edward Planckaert.
There came a challenge from Movistar, riding for Orluis Aular, and also from Israel-Premier Tech, sprinting for Ethan Vernon, but Mads Pedersen and Casper Van Uden were caught behind, and even more crucially there was no Jonathan Milan and Tim Merlier. All Philipsen really needed to do was to turn up, do his job, score his 14th Grand Tour career victory, and then declare himself back in the game.
As a bonus, he’s also got the red jersey as the race’s leader. Sprinters don’t tend to wear the maillot rojo in this most unforgiving, sprinter-unfriendly of races. But Philipsen is a rare exception, and having also worn yellow as the leader of the Tour just last month, only the pink of the Giro d’Italia remains for him to complete the Grand Tour leader’s jersey set. “I like red,” he said after, somewhat mischievously.
This latest win, his 55th as a pro, and the associated red jersey, further cements his status as one of all-time sprinting greats, not just of his generation. And aged 27, the Belgian still has many more years ahead of him in which he can move alongside and even surpass bigger legends of the same discipline.
Between now and the Vuelta’s finish in Madrid in mid-September, of the three – maybe at a push five – stages that look all but certain to go the way of his ilk, Philipsen is the clear, unquestionable favourite. In recent years it’s been his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Kaden Groves sweeping up the flatter stage victories at the Vuelta, but this time it’s Philipsen’s turn.
He’ll lose red on stage two, when the climbers and GC men will come out to play, and he’ll mostly be a footnote over the course of a very demanding and mountainous three weeks of racing, but when there is a reprieve from the climbing and Philipsen is permitted his fun, you can all but be he assured he’ll be feasting on the rewards. Because Jasper Philipsen always wins in Grand Tours. This year’s Vuelta is no different.
