Philipsen, making his second Grand Tour appearance at the age of 22, stayed with the main group despite the bad weather in the second half of the race.
The young Belgian outpaced veteran Grand Tour stage winners such as Michal Morkov (Dečuninck-Quick Step) and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) in a drag-heavy uphill finish that was a Ackermann (Beulah-Hansgrohe), in a drag-heavy uphill finish.
"This win means a lot to me. It's my first Grand Tour stage and I hope it won't be my last. Of course I'm going to enjoy this win a lot. It's a special moment for me and I want to enjoy it as much as I can and continue on to Madrid," said Philipsen.
After finishing second in the first group sprint of the Vuelta on stage 4 at Ejea de los Caballeros, Philipsen started his sprint too early and was able to open up a gap, only to be passed on the line by Sam Bennett (Desseuninck-Quick Step). After finishing fourth behind Ackermann in the second week of sprinting in Aguilar de Campau, Philipsen's third attack was finally good on Thursday.
"I wasn't expecting a group sprint and I wasn't thinking about a stage win," he said. "The profile made it look very hard and it was one of the longest and most uphill stages in the Vuelta. It wasn't a flat, easy stage.
"On top of that, yesterday [Wednesday] was my worst day in the Vuelta, and I didn't feel good at the beginning of today either. But I started to feel better and better, it was unexpected but at the end I could believe it."
"I like the uphill finish a little bit and this time it was not so hard, so it definitely suited me. I'm very proud of this win."
Philipsen, who is set to move to Alpecin Phoenix next year, was in the last kilometer as Joxen Fernandez Maxin, the UAE sport director of the Vuelta, insisted, "One day, he will come back to us again." I had great support from my teammate Ivo Oliveira. He then celebrated his victory loudly - and logically - with the UAE athletes and staff gathered on the other side of the finish line.
"This win means a lot, not only to me, but also to the team. We are all young and we have worked a lot over the last few years to be at our best in the sprints with the Oliveira brothers (Ivo and Rui). I'm sure they are enjoying this victory," Philipsen said of Ivo and Louis.
In addition to the usual stage win celebrations, when they arrived at their hotel after two hours of travel after an exceptionally cold and wet stage of the Vuelta, Philipsen was asked what he was looking forward to most.
"Probably a hot bath," he replied with a grin.
But assuming he survives the mountain stages on Friday and Saturday, he is also looking forward to the mass sprint stage in Madrid.
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