O Gran Camiño - The Historical Route 2025 Stage 5

March 2, 2025 It's a punchy day that may not be very easy to control. There is 2,400M of climbing over 160KM on the way to the finish of the Great Way in Santiago de Compostela. Riders will see the finish line three times, for two laps around Santiago de Compostela which includes three gravel sections on each lap then the third time at the finish. Nine riders got clear early but eight were left with 61KM to go including Clément Braz Afonso of Groupama-FDJ, Fredrik Dversnes of Uno-X Mobility, Mats Wenzel of Equipo Kern Pharma, Martin Marcellusi of VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè, Josh Burnett of Burgos Burpellet BH, Nicolás Alustiza of Euskatel-Euskadi, Rafael Reis of Anicolor-Tien21, and Asier Pablo Gonzalez of Illes Balears Arabay. They had 2 minutes 40 seconds on the peloton with 61KM to go. Soudal Quickstep led the peloton through the finish line with 50KM to go and just 45 seconds behind the breakaway. Leaders of each team were brought to the front with 28KM to go to get into position for the second ascent of the 5KM Alto de Lampai. Uno-X Mobility led on to the climb but Israel-Premier Tech took control and set the pace. Rémy Rochas of Groupama-FDJ, Samuel Fernández of Caja Rural Seguros RGA, and James Knox of Soudal Quickstep attacked and bridged to the remnants of the break. Rochas went solo 2KM from the top and pulled out 40 seconds on the bunch as he crested the climb with 20.8KM to go. In the bunch, Uno-X Mobility had eyes on the stage win and started riding to make sure the race stayed within reach. The route swung on to a larger main road with 15KM to go. The Knox chase group were caught, leaving just Rochas out in front but he was brought back as well before they hit the gravel sections again with 12KM to race. Israel-Premier Tech blocked the road on the first sector of this last lap but Luca Paletti of VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè was able to escape on the second sector. His lead was just 5 seconds as he hit the last sector with 7KM to go. There was more pace through the last sector which caught Paletti and split the group in half, leaving about 30 riders at the front with 5KM to go. A sprint was inevitable at this point and Uno-X Mobility worked with Polti-VisitMalta to lead into the final kilometer. Magnus Cort started his sprint with 250M to go. He looked effortless as got bike length after bike length on the next closest rider. Cort crossed the line to take his third win of the week by a comfortable margin. Carlos Canal of Movistar won the sprint for second with a bike throw ahead of Giovanni Lonardi of Polti-VisitMalta. Derek Gee of Israel-Premier Tech cemented his GC win, 35 seconds ahead of Davide Piganzoli of Polti-VisitMalta and 38 seconds on Magnus Cort.