Jasper Philipsen sprints to stage 2 victory at La Vuelta

Jasper Philipsen outsprinted Fabio Jakobsen to take stage 2 in a long hot flat stage

Jasper Philipsen pipped Fabio Jakobsen to the stage two sprint victory at the 2021 Vuelta a España.

Michael Matthews settled for third ahead of Juan Sébastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates), while Alex Aranburu rounded out the top five.

A crash inside the final 5km, crucially outside the safety of the 3km time cut-off, caused panic in the peloton and claimed a number of Bora-Hansgrohe riders after a touch of wheels, but all of the main GC contenders emerged unharmed without losing time.

Primož Roglic remains in the race lead, although second-place Aranburu picked up bonus seconds to move within four seconds of the Slovenian.

Stage winner Phillipsen said afterwards, ""It's incredible. Yesterday someone put it in our team group chat [that we could win the first sprint of all three Grand Tours] and for sure it was a dream but I didn't want to think about it because the chance is always less high than it would be true."

"It just shows how everyone from team is really motivated. It was a team effort and we can be really proud. It was amazing to see all my teammates there and everyone on the front line. I had a lot of support and this is how we can win sprints. Each of us can be very happy tonight and we start this Grand Tour in a good way."

Stage 3 on Monday will be the next big test for the GC favorites with a mountain top finish atop the 1,500m high Picón Blanco.

VIDEO: 2021 La Vuelta Stage 2 Highlights

2021 La Vuelta Stage 2 Top 10

1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix, in 3-58-57
2. Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at same time
3. Michael Matthews (Aus) BikeExchange
4. Juan Sebastián Molano (Col) UAE Team Emirates
5. Alex Aranburu (Esp) Astana - Premier Tech
6. Jon Aberasturi (Esp) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
7. Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrone
8. Riccardo Minali (Ita) Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert
9. Florian Vermeersch (Bel) Lotto-Soudal
10. Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis, all at same time

2021 La Vuelta GC after Stage 2

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 4:07:29
2 Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:00:04
3 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team BikeExchange 0:00:10
4 Josef Cerny (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:11
6 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:12
7 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech 0:00:14
8 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:15
9 Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma
10 Chad Haga (USA) Team DSM 0:00:17