April 15, 2026
The opening road stage of O Gran Camiño - The Historical Route starts in central Galicia in the city of Vilalba and heads due North to the coastal town of Viveiro after 52 km of racing one categorized ascent of the 4 km, 4% Alto da Gañidoira. The next 75 km are flat along the shores of the Western limits of the Bay of Biscay with a passage of the finish line in Barreiros going the opposite way of the actual finish. With 32 km to go, there is a Golden Kilometer sprint with bonus seconds available. The second and final categorized climb starts 7 km later on the Alto de Noceda. It is only 2.6 km long but will challenge the sprinters with an average gradient pushing 8.5%. There is a short descent but the road continues to gently rise between 3-4% for the next 6 km before the proper descent starts with 13.5 km to go from the finish. The last 6 km are flat to the finish with only one real change of direction so we should see a reduced group coming into Barreiros for a bunch kick.
Race Summary
High, grey clouds shrouded the start in Vilalba but the roads were dry and set for an aggressive start. When the race got underway, the speed was high and the fight to make it into the break was fierce. In the end, eight riders went up the road including Jakub Otruba of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Danny van der Tuuk of Euskatel-Euskadi, Rúben Rodrigues of Feira dos Sofás-Boavista, Joaquim Silva of Efapel, Sinuhé Fernández of Burgos-Burpellet BH, Hugo Nunes of Credibom-LA Alumínios-Marcos Car, Tomas Contte of Aviludo-Louletano-Loulé, and Hubert Lamothe of Meridian Racing p/b de la Uz. With 58 km to go, the group had 1 minute 40 seconds on the peloton which put Otuba into the virutal GC lead as he started the day just 39 seconds down. Movistar, UAE-XRG, and Visma-Lease a Bike were all contributing in the chase and seemed to have everything under control.
The wind was starting to pick up as the race approached Barreiros and the finish line for the first time. UAE-XRG put the peloton into the gutter which caused a crash further down the group involving two Equipo Kern Pharma riders. Both got back up and on their bikes but it was a signal that tension was rising. The break reached the Golden Kilometer with the first sprint taken by Nunes. Nunes carried on, no one followed, and the Portuguese rider snagged the second and third sprints as well.
The bunch got very lively with positioning after the Golden Kilometer with the Alto de Noceda just ahead. The break split up as the peloton were closing in at 1 minute 15 seconds. Fernández, Otruba, and Connte went clear of the rest of the break as they turned inland and started rolling upwards to the climb. In the peloton, Movistar took up the charge but the time gap still said 90 seconds by the time Otruba led the break onto the climb.
The front of the peloton thinned when the road tipped up under the pressure of Movistar but it didn't explode. About 1 km from the top, Movistar pulled off and the group was still around 45 riders. No one really took up the pace which allowed counter attacks to go. Kevin Vermaerke of UAE-XRG went away just over the top and got a small gap but Visma-Lease a Bike still had numbers and brought the American back with 20 km to go. At this point, Otruba was the sole rider out front and he had 30 seconds as he started the unclassified 6 km uphill drag.
No one took the initiative to set a pace in the peloton and Otruba went out to 45 seconds. Iván Romeo of Movistar hit the bunch with an attack from behind with 18 km to go but Caja Rural-Seguros RGA and UAE-XRG we attentive and straight on his wheel. A large group coalesced on Romeo's wheel as the Spanish Road Champion continued to power on the front, pulling out a favorites group of around 25 riders. Otruba was caught in the process and the lead group started the descent just over 13 km from the finish with race leader Julius Johansen of UAE-XRG in a dropped group at 35 seconds.
Anicolor-Campicarn started riding because their man, Rafael Reis, was in the front group and had the opportunity to take the race leader's jersey if they could stay clear of the chasing Johansen group. The front group mostly stayed together until 4 km to go when Nelson Oliveira of Movistar rolled the dice and attacked. He hung off the front by 50-100 meters for nearly 2 km but Caja Rural-Seguros RGA had the man-power to haul him back shortly after hitting the coast road. Counter attacks went but the group was all together as they came under 1 km to go, led in by Burgos-Burpellet BH with Movistar sitting behind. Jesús Herrada of Burgos-Burpellet BH did a fantastic job leading the peloton and positioning for his teammate Eric Antonio Fagúndez until 300 meters to go when the Movistar train pulled up and took control. Carlos Canal of Movistar launched with 200 meters to go and immediately had a small gap. He was followed by and Mats Wenzel of Equipo Kern Pharma and Fagúndez but neither could come around and Canal, the local boy, took his first professional victory. Wenzel and Fagúndez crossed the line in that order for second and third on the day.
Johansen never made it back to the front group which meant Rafael Reis of Anicolor-Campicarn assumed the race lead by 1 second over Nelson Oliveira.