Vuelta a España stage 1 LIVE: Grand Tour underway with Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen eying sprint finish

Just under a minute for La Calle. If nothing else, he's nailed on for the combativity award.

70KM TO GO

The Vuelta isn’t the only World Tour race taking place today - stage four of the Renewi Tour has just finished. While we wait for the action to get going again in Spain, you can read about how that stage unfolded here.

The gap’s grown back out to one minute. It seems La Calle will be out in front for some time yet - how he must be wishing at least one of his farmer breakaway companions had stayed with him.

Here's Hugo de la Calle, with the peloton close behind him. The pace has slowed, however, and he's been allowed to stay clear for now.

The peloton can see La Calle on the long straight road they are currently riding, but he still has a decent lead of about 20 seconds.

80KM TO GO

Lidl-Trek and Alpecin are the two teams leading the peloton, responsible for this upping of the pace.

La Calle is still riding hard and looks committed, but he’s now all alone, with 83km still to ride.

La Calle has attacked out of the break, but the rest have all sat up and are being caught by the peloton.

The pace is up in the peloton again, and the catch looks about to be made. This is very early for them to be bringing them back already.

Reinderink and Vinokorov only made that move for the intermediate sprint, and are back with the rest of the break now. The peloton are still about 45 seconds behind.

90KM TO GO

There are actually only points available for five riders at this sprint, meaning they will all be swallowed up by the riders in the break, leaving nothing for the riders in the peloton - so we won’t see a sprint between the points classification wannabees.

Reinderink comes through to take the maximum points at the sprint ahead of Vinokourov.

INTERMEDIATE SPRINT

There’s been a change in the break - Vinokorov and Reinderink have gone clear from the rest.

The gap has plummeted in recent kilometres, down to under a minute. The break never looked likely to succeed, but at this rate the catch could potentially be made very early.

We're nearing the halfway point of this opening stage. The next landmark is an intermediate sprint, where we'll see who from the peloton is interested in the points classification - Pedersen for sure, but who else?

100KM TO GO

Going into the race, Almeida and Ayuso talked of themselves as co-leaders, with neither designated above the other, and with the plan of working together to try to win the red jersey. If they can maximise the twin threat they pose, they could put both Vingegaard and Visma under pressure and into some tricky situations.

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It’s at last been confirmed that Verre beat Nicolau, meaning the Arkea rider will be the first King of the Mountains of this year’s Vuelta.

While Vingegaard might not have Tadej Pogačar to worry about for once, UAE Team Emirates are still likely to be his main rivals for the GC with their twin threat of João Almeida and Juan Ayuso.

The big question is: can they work together to defeat Vingegaard? As successful as UAE have been, they’re yet to win a Grand Tour with someone other than Pogačar, and do have a tendency to get their tactics wrong and let internal strife get in the way of cohesion when the Slovenian superstar isn’t present. This Vuelta looks set to be a big test of their steam spirit and internal harmony.

In the aftermath of the climb, the gap has come down a bit, to just under two minutes. All six riders in the break came back together, despite the small gaps appearing in the KOM sprint.

110KM TO GO

The overwhelming favourite for the overall victory is Jonas Vingegaard. He’s reliably exceptional at Gran Tours, finishing either first or second in his last six, in that time only being defeated by Tadej Pogačar, and his own teammate Sepp Kuss.

This Vuelta he’ll have the luxury of not having to race against his eternal rival Pogačar, so provided he’s feeling fresh enough post-Tour, will take some beating.

Both Nicolau and Verre sprint for the points, but it's unclear for now who won it.

KOM - LA SERRA

Verre comes flying through from the group behind and joins Nicolau.

Reinderink is tiring, and Nicolau is coming up to him.

Reinderink has attacked and gone solo, just under 1km from the top.

Nicolau and Reinderink have joined him.

Vinokourov has attacked 1.5m from the top, in pursuit of the points.

The break are halfway up the climb. There are 3, 2 and 1 KOM points available for the first three riders to the top.

The gap’s remained much the same on this climb, with it standing at 2:15 for now.

120KM TO GO

It’s perhaps a little harder than its category three status suggests, lasting 6.5km at a not insignificant gradient of 5.2%.

There is one climb to be taken on during this otherwise flat parcours, and the break has just started ascending it. It's a category three, and will determine the first wearer of the mountains jersey at this year's race.

Given the unlikelyhood of the break succeeding, this could be the biggest prize on offer for them, so expect a battle for it.

Philippa York - who knows a thing or two about competing for GC at the Vuelta - gave her expert analysis ahead of the race of how she thought this year’s race might play out.

The fascination of the three amigos GC battle - Philippa York Vuelta a España analysis

We haven’t talked yet about the GC race. For the overall contenders, today is simply about survival and avoiding any crashes - which, given the calmness of the day so far, has not threatened to be a problem. Things will become riskier when the race livens up later, however, in anticipation of the bunch sprint finish.

Alpecin-Decuencik are working at the front of the peloton with the intention of delivering a stage win to Jasper Philipsen, and by extension the red jersey.

A mixture of injuries, crashes and the emergence of Jonathan Milan and Tim Merlier has seen Philipsen lose his status as the fastest sprinter in the world, and he’s been limited to a relatively low three wins in 2025, so he’ll be itching to remind everyone what he’s capable of at this Vuelta. He has a great record here, having won three stages across his two previous appearances here, and on paper is the quickest sprinter on the start list.

The gap between the break and the peloton has grown to 2:05, the first time it's been over 2 minutes all day.

130KM TO GO

As for the rest of the break, Hugo de la Calle and Joel Nicolau ensure that the two Spanish wildcard teams (Burgos Burpellet BH and Caja Rural - Seguros RGA respectively) are represented, while familiar breakaway-enthusiasts Arkéa - B&B Hotels have Alessandro Verre present.

Not much happening on the road, as the gap remains at about 1:35. The organisers have not defined the most enthralling Gran Partida for the 2025 edition.

140KM TO GO

Vinokurov is a familiar name in the breakaway - Nicolas’ father Alexander won the GC here 19 years ago in 2006. He’s representing the same Astana team, too.

You might not have thought this would be the terrain for former Giro King of the Mountains Koen Bouwman, but he’s got himself in the break. That indicates his team Jayco-AlUla will be targeting breaks at this year’s Vuelta, despite having last year’s runner-up Ben O’Connor on their roster.

Iván García Cortina is receiving some kind of treatment at the car. He didn't crash, but looks sore - he might have been stung by something.

The gap's grown to the highest it's been all day - 1:45. The peloton have relaxed a little and are giving them at least a little leeway.

150KM TO GO

It’s interesting to see Soudal-QuickStep represented in the break in Pepijn Reinderink. Their leader Mikel Landa has said he’s not feeling in good enough form to chase the GC, and they do not have a sprinter on their line-up, so we could see an aggressive Vuelta from the team.

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The 6 riders up the road.

There's more stability to the race. Neither the break nor the peloton are racing too hard, and the gap is hovering at about 1:15.

160KM TO GO

A first glimpse of the peloton out on the road today.

Pedersen is returning to the country he enjoyed such great success earlier in the year, when he won four stages at the Giro d’Italia. His form at the Tour of Denmark, where he won three stages and the overall, suggests he might be set for something similar here at the Vuelta - a frightening prospect for the other sprinters and stage-hunters.

Lidl-Trek have a rider leading the peloton. They have the overwhelming favourite for the points classification, Mads Pedersen, who must also fancy his chances today - but may not quite have the edge in what looks set to be a pure sprinters finish.

The peloton has calmed down a little now, easing off on the chase. The gap’s grown up to 1:30 - under a minute did feel rather stingy so far from the finish!

1:00 is the gap. Alpecin's Tobias Bayer is leading the peloton, and behind him is a line of IPT riders, who have two potential sprinters in Jake Stewart and Ethan Vernon.

170KM TO GO

The work from Alpecin has kept the break pegged at under a minute. They aren’t giving them an inch.

With the gap grown to over a minute, Alpecin have already taken control at the front of the peloton. They have the hot favourite for the stage win in Jasper Philipsen, and will do everything they can to deliver him.

The gap's grown to over 25 seconds. The peloton can't see them on these winding roads

The peloton has eased up again, and this 6-man group's lead is growing.

180KM TO GO

Another rider has joined the leaders to form a group of 6 leaders. They are: Reinderink, Bouwman, Vinokurov, Verre, Hugo de la Calle and Nicolau.

Not yet - more attacks ignite the peloton back into life.

The peloton is easing up, this could be the break.

A group of five have a gap of about 10 seconds.

The EF rider has not gone clear, and the bunch is flying along in one long line. There looks set to be a battle to get into this break, despite the likelihood of the stage ending in a bunch sprint.

An EF rider attacks right from the flag. This feels like a statement of intent from them - without a GC leader or top sprinter, stage wins are their priority, and they look set to attack to try and get them.

And they're off!

OFFICIAL START

The riders will be racing for real before long.

The sun is shining today, allowing for pictures like this at the start.

Here was the scene from the start earlier.

The riders are on the neutralised start. These are the moments the local tourist board paied for, as the riders begin against the backdrop of Reggia di Venaria, outside of Torino.

There's around half an hour to go until the neutralised start, which is set to take place at 12:55 local time, with a fairly long roll out as the riders make their way out of Turin before the flag drops for the official start.

Here's a look at the profile for today's opening stage. A relatively flat stage with only one categorised climb on the 186.1km-long route from Turin to Novara, where a sprint finish is expected to take place. Bonus seconds are on offer at the intermediate sprint, as well as the finish, but the GC contenders will likely be saving their legs for tomorrow's uphill finish.

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 1 of the Vuelta a España 2025.