Brady Gilmore wins Tour of Catalonia finale as Evenepoel and GC stars ignite Barcelona

It had been an eventful Tour of Catalonia so far. Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel had already made their presence felt from the very first stages, which made it all the more disappointing that the Belgian crashed in stage three and the fourth stage was shortened due to strong winds. The first real showdown therefore took place in stage five, where the Dane demonstrated he was in a class of his own.

He confirmed this with his second stage win in a row on Saturday, giving him a substantial lead heading into the final stage to Barcelona. Plenty could still happen there: Montjuïc would be climbed no fewer than seven times in just 50 kilometers. The stage, which was only 95 kilometers long, was set to provide an explosive finale to a great week.

The first 40 kilometers of the race were about as flat as a billiard table, but it was the climbers who took the initiative. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), along with Darren Rafferty (EF Education - EasyPost), Liam Slock (Lotto-Intermarché), Einer Rubio (Movistar), and Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), formed a strong five-man breakaway.

Of course, they didn’t get much room in such a difficult and short stage. The gap was briefly 2 minutes, but by the time they reached the first climb of Montjuïc, it had shrunk to just a minute and a half. Visma | Lease a Bike and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe were already making their presence felt at the front. Things remained fairly calm during the first few laps, but after that, it was all-out war.

On the third pass of Montjuïc, the leaders were caught, and then Evenepoel immediately made the first move. He took about ten riders with him, including Vingegaard, Oscar Onley (INEOS Grenadiers), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), and the astonishingly strong Senna Remijn (Alpecin-Premier Tech). The 20-year-old Dutchman was right there with the big names.

It quickly became a game of stop-and-go, meaning the peloton came back together with 30 kilometers to go. But for how long would it stay together? Once again, it was Evenepoel on Montjuïc, at the same spot. This time, no gaps opened up, but the tone was set: the faster riders would have a tough time under the pressure of the GC contenders.

When Onley attacked on the fourth climb in Barcelona, Evenepoel wasn’t well positioned. Fortunately for him, the Briton couldn’t create too big a gap. Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), among others, then tried their luck, but the group was bunched up within a hand’s breadth. Another surge by Onley led to a new split.

Ciccone managed to keep up, as did Vingegaard, O'Connor, Soler, and Evenepoel, but that group, too, was only ahead for a brief moment. Dorian Godon, a two-time stage winner, saw his chances grow with one lap to go. One more time up Montjuïc—what would happen there? INEOS took the lead for the French champion, but it was Alpecin-Premier Tech that launched the attack.

Luca Vergallito broke away, but Enric Mas (Movistar) overtook him. Onley neutralized the move, so a sprint was inevitable. Hindley and Lipowitz took the lead for Evenepoel, Onley for Godon: the French champion made a strong move, but was outpaced by Brady Gilmore. Godon finished second, ahead of Evenepoel.