00:00Welcome to the 80th edition of La Vuelta a España, starting in Italy this year for the
00:12very first time. In the absence of the defending champion Primoz Roglic and the world champion
00:18Tadej Pogacar, all eyes are on Jonas Vingegaard. The Dane starts as the clear favourite and
00:24he'll have support from Matteo Jorgensen and the 2023 winner Sepp Kuss as he targets
00:30a maiden of Vuelta victory. I'm here for one goal and that's to win the overall classification
00:38here. That's my goal, that's the team's goal and the preparation went pretty okay so the
00:45shape is good and we have a strong team for it. In Pogacar's absence Almeida and Ayuso will
00:51be co-leaders for UAE while other GC hopefuls include O'Connor, Lander, Ciccone, Hindley,
00:57Gall, Bernal, Tiberi and Pidcock. Stage one though is all about the sprinters and the men to beat
01:04are no doubt Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen, the opening stage winners at this year's Tour
01:09Tour de France and Giro d'Italia.
01:12Yeah we'll see it's always a Grand Tour so the level will be definitely high. Everybody
01:18wants to take a red jersey here at the start and it's an important day. I think I said
01:24the other day at the presentation it would have been better with the climb closer to the finish
01:29line but it's fine you know it's a chance of winning a stage and also getting a red jersey
01:35so it's quite okay. This is only the sixth foreign start of La Vuelta and we'll be staying
01:44in Italy until Tuesday. Stage one is nice and straightforward with only one climb before
01:49the halfway point sorry about that Mads and then an intermediate bonus sprint. It is hard
01:54to see any outcome apart from a bunch sprint in Navarra.
02:03Stage one of the 2025 Vuelta of Spania is officially underway.
02:09184 riders embarking on La Vuelta which was first held 90 years ago and shortly after the
02:15flag dropped on the outskirts of Turin six men went up the road. Pepijn Reindering from
02:21Sudal Quickstep, Nikolas Vinukurov from XDS Astana, Joel Nikola from Kaya Rural, Kun Bauman
02:28of Jayko Alula, Alessandra Vere from Arkea B&B Hotels and Hugo de la Calle of Burgos.
02:35Well they quickly pulled around a minute clear but the sprint teams weren't in the mood to
02:40give them any real freedom. Lidltrek and Alpacin de Koenig posting men at the front of the peloton
02:45run for Pedersen and Philipsen with Bahrain victorious also lending a hand.
02:52The early average speed was consequently high over 45 kilometres an hour but the breakaway
02:57never led by more than two minutes. Well remarkably more than a third of this year's field are
03:01making their Vuelta debut no fewer than 63 riders and three of them were in today's breakaway.
03:06Reindering, De La Calle and Vere there is quite a youthful feel to this 2025 edition.
03:18The day's only climb La Cera which also featured in this year's Giro came with more than 120km
03:23still to ride. There was a bit of action in the breakaway with Reindering going from distance
03:28to try to get those KOM points. Vere though hit back to take the maximum three point haul.
03:35Alessandro Vere, well he's made a good recovery bridging across and the Italian on home soil
03:42wants to try and finish today's stage on the podium.
03:47Vere becoming the first king of the mountains of this Vuelta 25. The gap steady at around two minutes
03:53as they approached the intermediate sprint in Valdengo.
04:01After missing out on the polka dots, Reindering also tried to anticipate before the sprint.
04:06The Dutchman was joined by Vinokurov but took the maximum 20 points plus six bonus seconds.
04:13A few kilometres later it appeared to be game over for the breakaway with the peloton closing fast.
04:19But one man decided to prolong his stay up at the fronts.
04:23De La Calle, last year's under 23 Spanish champion, forging on solo for Burgos
04:28and the sprint teams were happy to let him lead the way into the final 50k.
04:38The game of cat and mouse eventually came to an end with 38km to go.
04:43Lidl Trek's Emmanuel Gebrizangier setting the pace now as De La Calle was swallowed up.
04:48It was then a question of remaining super focused on the run into Navarra,
04:52especially with the GC teams upping the pace.
04:57Under the Flamme Rouge and it's Pierre-André Côté who's on the front currently.
05:01Look at the way that he's completely emptying the tank here.
05:04Lotto are in the perfect position here.
05:06They go through this little pinch point here into the final, sitting third wheel.
05:12It's Elia Viviani, Ethan Vernon's there as is Jake Stewart.
05:17A little bit further back is the trio from Alpecin de Koenig now.
05:20Alpecin de Koenig sitting here really good.
05:22They still have two guys in front of Jasper Philipsen and they're starting it now.
05:26This is going to be a train that's going to be unstoppable.
05:29Jasper Philipsen with the ideal position to go for the sprint.
05:32Viviani is on the wheel and at the moment Lidl Trek trying to come from behind.
05:36It's already Mads Pedersen having to move up by himself.
05:39Pedersen's got a lot of work to do.
05:41Maris Michels likewise.
05:42Right now is Jasper Philipsen who is in the hot seat waiting, ready to pounce.
05:47Now is Ethan Vernon who strikes early.
05:49Can Vernon get round Jasper Philipsen?
05:51Philipsen has the shorter line.
05:53He comes into the finish.
05:54No doubt Jasper Philipsen wins his fourth stage here on Italian soil.
06:00What a perfect way for Philipsen to bounce back after his tour was cut short.
06:08The Belgian won the opener in Lille only to crash out with a broken collarbone on stage 3.
06:13But he's back and on form, taking red for the first time after landing his fourth of Welter stage win.
06:19After my crash in the tour, I was really disappointed to be out and he worked really long for it.
06:26It's been a major goal and then it's a setback.
06:30You have to find new goals and this was a nice goal but I know we only had one chance
06:37because there's not many opportunities for a sprinter like me this Welter so it will be tough.
06:45Philipsen taking his fourth win of the season ahead of Ethan Vernon and Oluis Aura followed by Elia Viviani and Ivan Garcia Cortina.
06:53Pedersen was finally 14th.
06:56Philipsen leads the GC by four seconds from Vernon while Rinderink and Vinokurov are both inside the top five
07:02thanks to the time bonuses they took at the intermediate sprints.
07:05Philipsen also on top in the points classification taking 50 for his win although he will lend the green jersey to Rinderink tomorrow.
07:13Vere is the early king of the mountains.
07:17He'll be taking the polka dot jersey up Limonte Piemonte tomorrow for the race's first summit finish.
07:23And Vernon will be in the white jersey as the best young rider ahead of Rinderink and Vinokurov.
07:28Do join us again on Sunday for a first GC skirmish on the slopes of Limonte Piemonte and thanks for watching.
07:34and thanks for watching.
