Jasper Philipsen sprints to stage 1 win at the 2025 Tour de France as Remco Evenepoel & Primoz Roglic lose considerable time on dramatic opening day

After one of the most dramatic opening stages of the Tour de France in recent memory, Jasper Philipsen has fired to the bunch sprint win ahead of Biniam Girmay, taking the Maillot Jaune. Meanwhile, both Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic have lost considerable time already!

As soon as the flag was dropped by race director Christian Prudhomme, five riders were on the attack. The group of Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché - Wanty), Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Mattéo Vercher (Team TotalEnergies) formed the breakaway of the day.

Given that the winner of stage 1 gets the chance to wear the iconic Maillot Jaune however, the sprint teams weren't taking any risks, and maintained a very firm grip of the time gap to the break, holding the lead group within two minutes.

Stage 1 of the Tour de France is always a nervy and tense affair in the peloton. As is often the case when the nerves are high, it hasn't taken long for a crash to rock the bunch. The first riders to hit the deck at the 2025 Tour? Filippo Ganna and Sean Flynn. Ganna seemed the worse effected of the pair, but a trip to the medical car, the Italian was eventually back up and back on the bike. Moments later, Stefan Bissegger was also caught up in a crash, further highlighting the high tension levels in the bunch.

With 106km to go, the breakaway was already swallowed up by the peloton. At the back of the bunch meanwhile, splits were forming because of the pace and the wind, with Florian Lipowitz and Lenny Martinez among the notable riders missing from the front.

As things calmed down shortly after though, things came back together in the peloton. Just outside 90km to go, Thomas and Vercher then went back on the attack and reformed the breakaway. As the pair then sprinted for the KoM point on offer at the top of the cobbled Mont Cassel, disaster struck. As they attempted to throw their bike to the line, Thomas was sent careering to the side, taking down Vercher and bringing both riders hard onto the cobbles.

With them caught by the bunch soon after, the sad news filtered through that Ganna had been forced to abandon the race because of the injuries sustained in his earlier crash.

Somewhat curiously, at the third and final categorised climb of the day, Jonas Vingegaard emerged from the bunch to pick up the one and only point on offer at the summit.

With no breakaway to chase, the peloton had calmed slightly heading into the final 20km. As things then kicked back into life though, Simon Yates was notably caught out the back of the bunch. At the front meanwhile, Yates' Team Visma | Lease a Bike teammates were putting the pressure on at the front, trying to force some more echelons.

As the peloton split properly, Jonathan Milan, Tim Merlier and Wout van Aert were sprint hopefuls missing from the lead group heading into the final 10km. Notably GC names missing from the select, 36-man front split were both Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel. At 10km to go, the gap between the two groups was already 30 seconds.

Almost immediately after the lead group went through the safety of the 5km barrier, Ben O'Connor got caught up in a crash. Relief was for the Aussie that he would get the same time as the leader at the finish line.

There was still a stage win to be fought for though, and with the Milan, Merlier, Evenepoel group now 34 seconds down into the final kilometre, the lead group had the victory in their hands. In the sprint for the line, Jasper Philipsen was the first to open the sprint, and the Belgian held off the challenge of Biniam Girmay to secure the win and the Maillot Jaune.