Philipsen (22) breaks down after first major win, Sam Bennett suffers | Video | Sticky Bottle

*Jasper Philipsen was delighted to win stage 15 at La Vuelta, with the 22-year-old highly emotional after the finish after what was his first Grand Tour victory (Photo: Gomez Sport)*

Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) took his first Grand Tour win on stage 15 at La Vuelta today, with the young Belgian rider breaking down with joy after the finish.

Philipsen (22) triumphed in what was an unusual sprint finish from a reduced bunch at the end of a very long and wet 231km stage from Mos to Puebla de Sanabria.

While another sprinter, Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) took 2nd place, the stage was anything but an obvious day for the fast men given several climbs on what was a very long day of nearly 6½ hours in the saddle.

🏁 -38 km | Etapa 15 - Stage 15 | #LaVuelta20

🇪🇸 Sam Bennett pierde contacto con el pelotón por el alto ritmo
🇮🇪 @Sammmy_Be is struggling in the back of the bunch 😣

👉https://t.co/zqaO4Bw62K pic.twitter.com/wGcOz0CIZL

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) November 5, 2020

One of the sprinters to suffer today was Ireland's Sam Bennett; the Deceuninck-QuickStep rider losing touch on a climb just inside the final 40km.

Bennett has looked tired at times over the last week though he has already taken a stage win - and crossed the line first on another before being relegated.

While he is finding the going tough, he may still rally for another win before the race is over.

When the organisers today declared the general classification time would be taken with 3km to go, many riders sat up and rode in to the finish as those interested in the sprint continued to fight all the way.

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Philipsen left his final charge very late on the uphill finish and though he was bumped quite aggressively by Ackermann in the sprint, he easily took what was a very impressive win.

After the winner and runner-up, Jannik Steimle (Deceuninck-QuickStep) took 3rd.

The 21-year-old British rider Fred Wright (Bahrain-McLaren) got up for 4th place; an excellent result for such a young rider on a hard day so deep into a Grand Tour.

⏯La etapa más larga de #LaVuelta20 ha ofrecido un día de resistencia con la victoria de @JasperPhilipsen. Revívelo en 1'.

⏯Hard and rainy 🌧️day in the saddle for the longest stage of the race, where Philipsen took a solid sprint for the win. The 1' summary. pic.twitter.com/6EOpWSKlU6

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) November 5, 2020

All the favourites were in the reduced peloton when they passed the 3km to go marker and so all were credited with Philipsen's time, with no change in the overall and now just three stages to come.

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) continues to lead the race by 39 seconds from Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), with Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) in 3rd at 47 seconds.

Ireland's Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) is 4th, some 1:42 off Roglic and 55 seconds off Carthy.