THE THRILL RETURNS
O Gran Camiño returned to give Galicia its own space within professional cycling, as it already had with the extinct professional Volta a Galicia, which for years had in its line-up the best cyclists of the moment.
A worldwide focus
The impact of this first edition crossed all kinds of borders. With a first class participation, and with some protagonists eager to offer the best of the shows, we lived four days of the best cycling on our roads.
Excitement for innovation
Galicia, hardness and beauty
The best preserved Roman Wall in the world was the starting point of the first stage in a (neutralized) lap around the top of it. This preserves the entire perimeter of 2.2 km. During the route we touched up to 3 different Ways of Saint James in a leg-breaking route that had its epilogue in the most emblematic Camiño, the Camiño Francés, from Samos to Sarria by its variant for bicycles “Eurovelo”.
From the historic border town of Tui, we enter the province of Pontevedra following the route of the Camiño Portugués, we go around the peninsula of O Morrazo to return to the rougher version of the Pontevedra coast on the original route of the Camiño Portugués da Costa. This finish was marked by the 2nd category ascent to Monte Trega, where the history of Galicia is written on the stones of one of the largest and most symbolic archaeological sites in Galicia, El Castro do Trega. The climax of the race was at 600 mt from the finish line, where the historical heritage made the race more tense with 220 mt of the very hard cobblestones of the Via Crucis do Trega.
In the summer of 2022, the region of Valdeorras saw how 70% of its forests were devastated by fire. Many of the residents of their villages saw how the flames completely surrounded their houses while they fought against the fire in an act of bravery like few others. The towns of Santa Veiga de Cascallá and Castelo witnessed the passage of the race in this third stage that does not avoid misfortune, but pays tribute to the people of Valdeorras.
A hard and twisty time trial put the finishing point in the Praza del Obradoiro. Starting in Novo Milladoiro (crossing point of the Camiño Portugués) and, after overcoming the orographic difficulty of the Alto do Montouto, the seconds werw at stake through the historic streets of Compostela, where the Camiño da Vía da Prata enters until the “End of the Camino”.
On the third day, O Gran Camiño moved to the province of Ourense, with a stage starting in Xinzo de Limia and finishing in Ribadavia, which was the one that touched more municipalities, almost twenty. With a classic profile, it did not have big passes, but it did have ‘little traps’ that made this a stage with surprises.
Pontevedra hosted on the last day the queen stage of this Gran Camiño, marked by very adverse weather conditions. Starting in the town of Ponteareas, very linked to cycling, it had a “spectacular” route with a finish at the height of a great tour like this one: Monte Aloia.
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O Gran Camiño was born with the intention that all the eyes of international cycling would be on Galicia at the end of February. A race that would combine, in a majestic way, the highest level sport with the diffusion of one of the most beautiful territories in the world, where everyone who did not know it, would be amazed by the incredible landscapes through which the race would run. With all the similarities between this race and the Camino de Santiago, it is also a trump card to exploit, to show the world that it is “The Way of the Ways”, crossing its different routes and discovering, as one more pilgrim, the secrets that its different routes offer. Two first editions with two luxury winners. The third edition took place in 2024, where Danish Jonas Vingegaard (current winner of the Tour de France) retained his title after another outstanding performance, as he did in 2023. This year, the star-studded line-up was completed by such big names in world cycling as Egan Bernal (winner of the 2019 Tour de France and the 2021 Giro de Italia), Richard Carapaz (winner of the 2019 Giro de Italia, second in 2022 and third in the 2021 Tour de France), Rigoberto Urán (second in 2022 and third in the 2021 Tour de France) and Rigoberto Urán (second in 2023), Rigoberto Urán (second in the 2013 and 2014 Giro de Italia and second in the 2017 Tour de France), Michał Kwiatkowski (world champion in 2014) and many other names such as Carlos Rodríguez, David Gaudu, Lenny Martínez, Ethan Hayter, Joshua Tarling, Cian Uijtdebroeks, Wilco Kelderman or Movistar Team’s Galician Carlos Canal.
The third edition of O Gran Camiño offered us another journey through the history, landscape and heritage of our land. We started our way looking for the light of the oldest Roman lighthouse in the world. We fought against the clock just as Hercules fought against the giant Xerion. The inaugural stage took us into the city of A Coruña, ending at the foot of the Tower of Hercules, where legend has it that Hercules buried the head of the giant Xerion after beating him in combat.
We jump to Lugo to skirt the spectacular vineyards of the Ribeira Sacra, where viticulture became a heroic act defying the steep slopes of the mountains of Lugo.
We enjoy the province of Ourense, where history comes alive in Ribadavia. Its medieval castle is part of a magnificent royal scenery that made us travel to the darkest times where the swords of the knights crossed.
And of course, the script of this race is written in a place with the most wonderful natural scenery. The province of Pontevedra put the finishing touch to the race and once again crowned Jonas Vingegaard as king of O Gran Camiño at the top of the majestic Monte Aloia Natural Park.
We are proud to be from where we come from. A proposal born in Galicia, with a handcrafted soundtrack, with locations typical of the best blockbusters and a cast of actors, the cyclists, who are the best in the world. Another unforgettable edition of O Gran Camiño!
En 2022 presentamos un recorrido atractivo, en el que cada etapa transcurría por una de las cuatro provincias de nuestra comunidad. Galicia es conocida en el mundo del ciclismo por la dureza de sus carreteras, que si bien no tiene demasiados puertos de gran entidad donde poder desarrollar un trazado con puertos encadenados y mucha altitud, hay infinidad de terreno donde buscar el desgaste para que los corredores nos puedan deleitar con el mejor de los espectáculos.
Así, la primera etapa transcurría en la provincia de Pontevedra. Era la más propicia para los hombres rápidos del pelotón, con una llegada masiva en la calle Policarpo Sanz de Vigo, previo paso por algunas cotas de montaña que redujeron este grupo principal, con un final donde el danés de EF – EasyPost, Magnus Cort Nielsen, fue el más rápido y consiguió llevarse la victoria y alcanzar el liderato de la prueba.
La segunda etapa, en A Coruña, salió de Bertamiráns y terminó en Ézaro. Luego de salir dirección Santiago de Compostela, alcanzó la Costa da Morte para rematar en el alto del mirador, donde el canadiense Michael Woods, de Isael – Premier Tech, fue el que se alzó con la victoria y cogió el maillot amarillo de líder.
La etapa de Ourense era la llamada a hacer las diferencias importantes de cara a clasificación general. Un encadenado de tres puertos por los cañones del Sil brindó un espectáculo de primer nivel entre el Israel – Tech, que defendía su liderato, y el Movistar Team, que buscaba con Alejandro Valverde hacerse con la prueba.
En la cuarta etapa, una contrarreloj individual en Sarria, el ucraniano del EF – EasyPost, Mark Padun, marcó el mejor tiempo, haciéndose con la victoria. En un final de infarto, se decidió en un mano a mano entre Woods y Valverde, que cayó en manos del murciano por apenas 6” de margen. Un final apoteósico para una grandísima vuelta.
Four
Stages
February 24 - 27
One of the premises we had in mind from the beginning of the project was to take the event to another level, offering different points of view.
In the 2023 edition, we materialised this idea with the use of an FPV drone during the live broadcast. An unprecedented resource, until now, in this type of competition. The device was piloted by Ivan Merino, who leads the national ranking and has extensive experience in Moto GP and Formula 1.
2 hours a day of the best live TV coverage with an audiovisual production at the same level of Grand Tours.
A STORY OF GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS
Galicia is a region of tradition when it comes to cycling, with a great number of names in the history books of cycling, both in old and modern times. Cyclists such as Rodríguez Barros brothers (of whom Delio still holds the record of stage wins in the Tour of Spain with a total of 39), Álvaro Pino, Jesús Blanco Villar, Óscar Pereiro or “deluxe” domestiques that were part of top-level teams during their professional careers such as Marcos Serrano or José Ángel Vidal, are some of the names that are part of the cycling culture.
Moreover, Galicia had for many years a professional race that brought together the best riders of international cycling.
With a first edition dated in 1933 and despite not happening in some years, the palmares of the race is linked with distinguished names of the cycling history of different eras: Salvador Cardona, Julián Berrendero, Vicente Belda, Marino Lejarreta, Laudelino Cubino, Miguel Induráin, Abraham Olano, Laurent Jalabert, Claudio Chiapucci, Andrew Hampsten, Piotr Ugrumov, Gianni Bugno o Frank Vandenbroucke are a few of the stars that participated in some of its editions.
Big names from our land: Delio Rodríguez, Emilio Rodríguez (on 3 occasions), Blanco Villar y Marcos Serrano also had the professional Volta a Galicia in their palmares.
This background is an additional incentive for cycling fans and teams to pay special attention to O Gran Camiño, a new stage race that, despite having its first edition in 2022, has tradition and history already in its favour.
Stay up to date on all the news that will be revealed in the coming weeks.
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