Jasper Philipsen celebrated his second stage win of the Vuelta a España after a messy sprint finish on stage eight despite his legs “feeling like concrete”.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck leader rewarded the work of his team, who had played a role in controlling the race for much of the day, came off Elia Viviani’s wheel to claim victory in a near blanket finish.
The Belgian also claimed victory on the race’s first day and will have another couple of opportunities to win before the race finishes in Madrid.
Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) had started the sprint but few lead-outs played it to perfection. Lotto’s effort for Viviani seemed the smoothest but the Italian, who’s line cut across the road, was overhauled in the final meters and thumped his bars in frustration as he crossed the line.
Speaking to TNT Sports Philipsen said: “I was actually completely destroyed already at the start of my sprint because I had to move up in the wind and my legs were feeling like concrete. I managed to follow Viviani and really go at the very last moment with some speed but definitely the legs were not there any more.”
Philipsen came into the race following a collar bone fracture sustained in a crash at the Tour de France. He said the build up to the Vuelta had been “short and intense” but that his Alpecin-Deceuninck team pushed him to “go beyond” what he “thought would be possible”.
He added: “I didn’t have the right feeling, but with the support of these team-mates and the lead-out it’s nice we can have this success.”
Viviani had very nearly cut across Philipsen’s line in the sprint but said he had heard fans screaming the Belgian’s name and left the door open for him. “It’s not like that that I win races,” he said.
The Italian added: “It’s painful, you look at the line in front of you and it’s getting closer and closer but when a guy like Philipsen is around it’s never done until the line. It’s even more painful given the job of the team did, they were amazing and put me in the perfect position.”
Brit Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) was third on the day’s stage but was fairly up-beat, he said: “I felt quite fast today but it was really chaotic in the last few kilometres. In the end I started too far back to sprint [for the win]. When I went with 400-500m to go I knew it wasn’t for the win, when a door opened at 200m to go I’d already done a 200m sprint so I was on the limit.”
Asked about his condition by TNT Sports, he said: “The speed is definitely there. The issue this year is I’ve not worked with Jake [Stewart], we’ve had different programmes, but we’re now starting to work together and I’m hoping it’s a duo we’ll continue in the future. The learning has to start somewhere and I guess it’s here.”
How it happened
With just 163km to race and wind conditions too gentle to make for any real prospect of anything other than a sprint the break was swiftly established. Those heading up the road were a trio of Spanish riders from smaller teams Joan Bou (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Sergio Samitier (Cofidis) and José Luis Faura (Burgos Burpellet BH).
They initially raced out to an advantage of four minutes before Alpecin-Deceunick, backing fast man Jasper Philipsen, and Israel-Premier Tech, riding for Brit Ethan Vernon, decided that was too much and pulled it back by 30 seconds.
There were few obstacles between the race and finish line and the peloton appeared fairly relaxed with green jersey wearer (and one of the favourites for the day’s win) Mads Pedersen content to sit towards the back of the group with his Lidl-Trek team-mates.
With few opportunities for the sprinters in this years race and with another mountain stage tomorrow the race proved uneventful as it made its way across north east Spain. The only event of note was the abandonment of 24 year-old Brit Oliver Knight (Cofidis) who climbed off with 56km to go.
As the race made its slow descent towards Zaragoza and crossed the 50km to go mark the gap to the break stood at 2.30.
As the intermediate sprint at Peñaflor 7.5km later approached Lidl-Trek, keen to see Pedersen pick up the maximum points possible in the green jersey competition, sent Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier to the front of the peloton.
With 1km to go Pedersen and a pair of team-mates clipped off the front of the peloton, but the Dane didn’t have it all his own way. Israel-Premier Tech’s British pairing of Jake Stewart and Ethan Vernon, who sat second in the green jersey contest, made some effort to challenge him, but the Lidl-Trek leader saw them off easily. As a consequence, Pedersen picked up 13 points while Vernon netted 10.
The race lost another rider at 35km to go when Uruguayan Eric Antonio Fagúndez abandoned. He was the third rider to leave the Burgos Burpellet BH since the race started with reports that illness was circulating amongst the squad.
By 25km to go the gap to the break had dropped to just 30 seconds, mostly under the impetus of Alpecin-Deceuninck, eager for Philipsen’s second win of the race.
Meanwhile up-front things began to break up with Faura becoming distanced as the race crossed the finish line for the first time ready to complete a lap of the town before arriving in anger. Shortly after, Samitier, who hails from near-by Barbastro and clearly keen to get the most combative rider for the day, attempted to accelerate away from his only remaining breakaway companion on several occasions but couldn’t shake him.
The pair were eventually swallowed up by the peloton with 17km left to race.
The wide roads around Zaragoza allowed the peloton to spread wide across it as the pace was controlled by the GC teams, with Visma-Lease a Bike the most prominent of them. Around the same time Kiwi George Bennett (Israel-Premier Tech), who suffered crashes earlier in the race and was experiencing knee pain, abandoned with just 15km left in the day’s stage.
As the peloton crested a small climb with just over 10km left yesterday’s winner Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) fell out of the back of the group. At the head of the race Visma, UAE and Movistar were among those competing to set the pace.
Nearing the finish line, Alpecin-Deceuninck came to the front battling with Intermarché-Wanty and Lotto. At the flame rouge Ineos Grenadiers began to bring Ben Turner up to the front.
Entering the final run in no-one seemed to want to launch the sprint. Elia Viviani (Lotto) forged his way to the front and proceeded to cut across the road but Philipsen came round him to take the win.
Result: Vuelta a España 2025 stage eight: Monzón Templario › Zaragoza (163km)
1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck in 3:43.48
2. Elia Viviani (Ita) Lotto
3. Ethan Vernon (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech
4. Arne Marit (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty
5. Anders Foldager (Nor) Jayco AlUla
6. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis
7. Madis Mihkels (Est) EF Education-EasyPost
8. Thibaud Gruel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
9. Fabio Christen (Sui) Q36.5 Pro Cycling
10. Ben Turner (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same time
General classification after stage eight
1. Torstein Træen (Nor) Bahrain Victorious, in 29:01:50
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:33
3. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:41
4. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2:42
5. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) XDS Astana, +2:47
6. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:49
7. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +2:53
8. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, at same time
9. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +2:55
10. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +2:58
