After the Tour, now the Vuelta - Jasper Philipsen wins stage 1 of Vuelta a Espana and takes on red jersey

Stage 1 of the Vuelta a Espana has ended in a bunch sprint and has had a predictable finish. Jasper Philipsen won the bunch sprint with ease in Novara and took over the race lead.

The first day of competition wasn't overly competitive, we did see some riders form the day's breakaway but there was never good cooperation. Alessandro Verre took the first KOM jersey, and he was joined in front by Hugo de la Calle, Nicolas Vinokourov, Koen Bouwman, Pepijn Reinderink and Joel Nicolau.

The group did not work together smoothly, even for the TV exposure, and right after the KOM they started attacking each other. With 84 kilometers to go Burgos' de la Calle went solo off the front, later to be caught with 39 kilometers to go. Sprinter and GC teams just paced to keep themselves in the head of the peloton, the same scenario continued until the very last kilometers.

There was general chaos into the final kilometer with riders pacing but without a true leadout taking the front, but Alpecin-Deceuninck timed their best men to perfection and delivered a textbook leadout for Jasper Philipsen.

The Belgian is by far the strongest sprinter in the race and with Mads Pedersen out of position, the Belgian barely had to break a sweat to take his first victory since his comeback. Ethan Vernon and Orluis Aular finished second and third.