Cycling: Jasper Philipsen won the opening stage of the 2025 Tour de France, claiming the yellow jersey. The day's losers included Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic, who probably didn't expect to lose time on the first stage. Numerous crashes and even an initial abandonment overshadowed the otherwise very entertaining first day of the Tour.
Philipsen wins, hectic pace dominates the start of the tour
The 112th edition of the Tour de France was characterized by hectic action. Breakaway riders attacked, were caught, crashed, and dropped. Riders fell and abandoned the race. And in the final kilometers, the wind decided between victory and defeat. After a total of 184,9 intense kilometers, starting and finishing in Lille, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck) can celebrate not only the stage win but also the yellow jersey in pleasant temperatures. It was also a good day for the top favorites Tadej Pogacar (UAE – XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma – Lease a Bike). The Slovenian and the Dane were alert during the crosswind shifts and were in the lead group. Things didn't go so well for Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick-Step) and Primoz Roglic (RB – Bora – hansgrohe). They lost valuable time today.
Moment of shock for Florian Lipowitz
With Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa – B&B Hotels), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon – AG2R La Mondiale), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies), and Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché – Wanty), five strong professionals formed the first breakaway group of this year's Tour de France. However, this didn't bring any peace to the peloton. The constant threat of crosswinds kept the pace high. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon – AG2R La Mondiale), and Thibau Nys (Lidl – Trek) crashed, but were able to rejoin the peloton, as were the dropped Lenny Martinez (Bahrain – Victorious) and Florian Lipowitz (RB – Bora – hansgrohe). The German suffered a flat tire at an unfortunate moment. For Ganna and Bissegger, the 2025 Tour de France was over after their crash, despite a brief comeback attempt. The Italian and the Swiss rider were forced to abandon the race, disappointed, due to their injuries.
Benjamin Thomas wins the first mountain jersey of the 2025 Tour de France
After the first categorized climb – which Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) secured – the breakaway group was caught by the high pace of the peloton. This allowed the top sprinters to battle for the maximum points in the intermediate sprint. This went to Italian Jonathan Milan ( Lidl – Trek) in La Motte-au-Bois, ahead of Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché – Wanty), and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck). Tim Merlier (Soudal – Quick-Step) held back to conserve energy for the final sprint. In the battle for the King of the Mountains jersey, Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Mattéo Vercher (Team TotalEnergies) didn't give up. After being caught and winning the intermediate sprint, they launched another attack. On Mont Cassel, the two Frenchmen sprinted for every millimeter on the cobblestones. Thomas took the classification again, but lost control of his bike during the Tiger Jump – and both crashed.
This is one of the images of this 1st stage of the Tour de France: the chute of Benjamin Thomas and Mattéo Vercher on the mountain of Mont Cassel, or the two men dispute a point for the classification of the montagne. #TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/1eLxDxPd0h
— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) July 5, 2025
Jonas Vingegaard gets his first mountain point
After 140 kilometers, on Mont Noir – the last categorized climb of the day, approximately 45 kilometers from the finish – Jonas Vingegaard (Visma – Lease a Bike) made his first move. Once all the breakaway riders had been caught, the Dane was the first rider to cross the line, securing a mountain point. An unusual move for him, but since no one else was interested in the point, the two-time Tour de France winner didn't have to expend any energy. For his teammate Simon Yates (Visma – Lease a Bike), it was a day to forget. The reigning Giro d'Italia champion was dropped at an inopportune moment and was unable to rejoin the peloton. This effectively ended the Dutch team's Option B on the very first day.
Wind relay 17 kilometers from the finish
Even before the start of the 2025 Tour de France, there was much talk about potential crosswinds on the early stages. And today, the warnings proved well-founded. Around 17 kilometers from the finish, several teams initiated a crosswind breakaway, which immediately created gaps in the peloton. The main field split into several groups, and chaos ensued. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick-Step) and Primoz Roglic (RB – Bora – hansgrohe) missed the chance to join the lead group. Germany's hope, Florian Lipowitz (RB – Bora – hansgrohe), was also nowhere to be found at the front. To make matters worse, a crash occurred shortly before the finish, involving Marijn van den Berg (EF Education – EasyPost) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla). A classic bunch sprint was therefore out of the question today. Only about 25 riders crossed the finish line simultaneously in the first group.
| He is Jasper Philipsen who has a treaty pact for the fourth year! What a demonstration was made by the men of Alpecin-Deceuninck. #TourdeFrance
Stream koers on HBO Max pic.twitter.com/W0Ca5dGNHP
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) July 5, 2025