Description
April 16, 2026
5th O Gran Camiño – The Historical Route (2.1) ME – Stage 3 – Carballo – Padrón : 169 km
A UCI 2.1 odyssey through Galicia’s mist-shrouded mountains,
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April 16, 2026
5th O Gran Camiño – The Historical Route (2.1) ME – Stage 3 – Carballo – Padrón : 169 km
A UCI 2.1 odyssey through Galicia’s mist-shrouded mountains, O Gran Camiño is where the road less traveled becomes a battleground of endurance. The route, a relentless mix of steep climbs and technical descents, doesn’t just test legs—it rewrites them, with stages that feel like climbing a staircase to the sky. The Galician weather, a fickle ally, adds another layer of chaos: rain-slicked roads, swirling fog, and crosswinds that turn every descent into a leap of faith. For the peloton, it’s a return to cycling’s roots—raw, unpredictable, and unapologetically hard. The final stage, often a brutal uphill finish, isn’t just a race; it’s a testament to suffering, where the strongest emerge not just with a result, but with the scars to prove they belonged. Here, the road decides who’s worthy.
Spanish road champion Iván Romeo gave Movistar their second victory in as many days on stage 3 of O Gran Camiño, attacking away solo with 11km to go after sparking attacks that split the race up on the only categorised climb of the day.
Roméo launched his first attack on the shallow but lengthy Alto Pico Muralla climb with 42km to go, which drew out several of the top climbers and eventually led to a group of six riders breaking away over the top of the ascent.
This group failed to cooperate as it battled out the three intermediate sprint points, and it was before the third one that he managed to split the group in two, bringing Alessandro Pinarello (NSN Pro Cycling) and Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) off the front with him.
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), George Bennett (NSN) and Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike) tried to chase. However, the Kiwi sat on the back with his teammate ahead, and the other two struggled to match the power of Roméo on the flatter terrain.
As he approached the final 11km, Roméo got into his aero position and put the power down to drop his two companions, which he did with apparent ease, before storming away solo to win the third stage by 15 seconds from Pinarello.
Race leader at the start of the day, Rafael Reis (Anicolor-Campicarn), was dropped on Alto Pico Muralla, with Nordhagen taking over the yellow jersey thanks to gaining four bonus seconds throughout the day, edging ahead of Pinarello on GC by just two seconds.
Roméo started the day 1:14 down, due to the puncture and bike change that ruined his opening stage time trial effort when he was fighting for the win. This stage victory has put him back into the overall race, 27 seconds down, ahead of the two key GC days on stages 4 and 5.
How it unfolded
The third stage of O Gran Camiño kicked off over undulating roads heading south from Carballo in Galicia, with 169km taking the peloton down to Padrón and the finale focused on the one categorised climb of the day: Alto Pico Muralla (10.7 km at 3.8%).
A six-man breakaway formed after the opening 30km of racing on Thursday, with Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Carlos Miguel Salgueiro (Team Tavira-Crédito Agrícola), Fábio Costa (Feira dos Sofás-Boavista), Simão Lucas (Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua), Jacob Roy and his Meridian Racing p/b de la Uz teammate Joshua Lebo getting up the road.
The race then steadied into a holding pattern, with race leader Reis’ Anicolor-Campicarn team holding the breakaway’s advantage around the three-minute mark. By the time the race reached the foot of the Alto Pico Muralla with 45km left to race, the break’s lead was down to 1:20.
Movistar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG had also moved up by this point to position their leaders for the 10.7km ascent, and it was Spanish national champion Ivan Roméo who attacked first with 7.2km of the shallow climb still to race, which led to the break being caught.
This caused several splits in the main peloton, but he was closely marked by Adam Yates for UAE, who got himself on the front to keep the pace high. New Zealand national champion Bennett was the next to counter off the front, and he had Balderstone for company.
After his early move, Roméo tried to get away on his own again; however, Yates snapped onto his wheel once more with Visma’s Nordhagen and Bennett’s NSN teammate Pinarello also able to follow. They quickly joined the leading duo to make it six in front, with yellow jersey Reis around one minute down at the top of the climb, but the main chasing bunch was only 35 seconds behind.
Heading onto the mostly downhill 33km run to the line, Nordhagen moved into the virtual lead of the race, having started the day 12 seconds down on Reis, with Yates at 25 and Pinarello at 30 seconds the next closest to the yellow jersey at the beginning of the stage.
With nine bonus seconds on offer across three intermediate sprint points, there was a fierce fight in the break to get them, with Bennett winning the first, Nordhagen the second, and Pinarello the third.
Across the three points, the Italian gained enough seconds to overtake Yates virtually and move within 11 seconds of Nordhagen, but also got himself into a three-man move out of the six-man break, as cooperation failed and Roméo looked to get away again. Balderstone joined the pair, with Yates, Bennett and the young Norwegian chasing at 10 seconds.
Roméo finally got what he wanted with 11km to go, powering away from Pinarello and Balderstone in the saddle. From here, no one was able to match him from any of the chase groups, with the Spanish champion crossing the line 15 seconds ahead of his closest chasers.
Bennett led the next group of three home 25 seconds after Roméo, with the main peloton finishing 44 seconds in arrears, led over the line by Visma development team rider Patryk Goszczurny. After his day in yellow, Reis ceded the jersey in a group that finished 4:40 down on the stage winner.
Results :
 ME - Stage 3 </strong> - Carballo - Padrón : 169 km
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A UCI 2.1 odyssey through Galicia’s mist-shrouded mountains, O Gran Camiño is where the road less traveled becomes a battleground of endurance. The route, a relentless mix of steep climbs and technical descents, doesn’t just test legs—it rewrites them, with stages that feel like climbing a staircase to the sky. The Galician weather, a fickle ally, adds another layer of chaos: rain-slicked roads, swirling fog, and crosswinds that turn every descent into a leap of faith. For the peloton, it’s a return to cycling’s roots—raw, unpredictable, and unapologetically hard. The final stage, often a brutal uphill finish, isn’t just a race; it’s a testament to suffering, where the strongest emerge not just with a result, but with the scars to prove they belonged. Here, the road decides who’s worthy.
Spanish road champion Iván Romeo gave Movistar their second victory in as many days on stage 3 of O Gran Camiño, attacking away solo with 11km to go after sparking attacks that split the race up on the only categorised climb of the day.
Roméo launched his first attack on the shallow but lengthy Alto Pico Muralla climb with 42km to go, which drew out several of the top climbers and eventually led to a group of six riders breaking away over the top of the ascent.
This group failed to cooperate as it battled out the three intermediate sprint points, and it was before the third one that he managed to split the group in two, bringing Alessandro Pinarello (NSN Pro Cycling) and Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) off the front with him.
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), George Bennett (NSN) and Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike) tried to chase. However, the Kiwi sat on the back with his teammate ahead, and the other two struggled to match the power of Roméo on the flatter terrain.
As he approached the final 11km, Roméo got into his aero position and put the power down to drop his two companions, which he did with apparent ease, before storming away solo to win the third stage by 15 seconds from Pinarello.
Race leader at the start of the day, Rafael Reis (Anicolor-Campicarn), was dropped on Alto Pico Muralla, with Nordhagen taking over the yellow jersey thanks to gaining four bonus seconds throughout the day, edging ahead of Pinarello on GC by just two seconds.
Roméo started the day 1:14 down, due to the puncture and bike change that ruined his opening stage time trial effort when he was fighting for the win. This stage victory has put him back into the overall race, 27 seconds down, ahead of the two key GC days on stages 4 and 5.
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
The third stage of O Gran Camiño kicked off over undulating roads heading south from Carballo in Galicia, with 169km taking the peloton down to Padrón and the finale focused on the one categorised climb of the day: Alto Pico Muralla (10.7 km at 3.8%).
A six-man breakaway formed after the opening 30km of racing on Thursday, with Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Carlos Miguel Salgueiro (Team Tavira-Crédito Agrícola), Fábio Costa (Feira dos Sofás-Boavista), Simão Lucas (Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua), Jacob Roy and his Meridian Racing p/b de la Uz teammate Joshua Lebo getting up the road.
The race then steadied into a holding pattern, with race leader Reis' Anicolor-Campicarn team holding the breakaway's advantage around the three-minute mark. By the time the race reached the foot of the Alto Pico Muralla with 45km left to race, the break's lead was down to 1:20.
Movistar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG had also moved up by this point to position their leaders for the 10.7km ascent, and it was Spanish national champion Ivan Roméo who attacked first with 7.2km of the shallow climb still to race, which led to the break being caught.
This caused several splits in the main peloton, but he was closely marked by Adam Yates for UAE, who got himself on the front to keep the pace high. New Zealand national champion Bennett was the next to counter off the front, and he had Balderstone for company.
After his early move, Roméo tried to get away on his own again; however, Yates snapped onto his wheel once more with Visma's Nordhagen and Bennett's NSN teammate Pinarello also able to follow. They quickly joined the leading duo to make it six in front, with yellow jersey Reis around one minute down at the top of the climb, but the main chasing bunch was only 35 seconds behind.
Heading onto the mostly downhill 33km run to the line, Nordhagen moved into the virtual lead of the race, having started the day 12 seconds down on Reis, with Yates at 25 and Pinarello at 30 seconds the next closest to the yellow jersey at the beginning of the stage.
With nine bonus seconds on offer across three intermediate sprint points, there was a fierce fight in the break to get them, with Bennett winning the first, Nordhagen the second, and Pinarello the third.
Across the three points, the Italian gained enough seconds to overtake Yates virtually and move within 11 seconds of Nordhagen, but also got himself into a three-man move out of the six-man break, as cooperation failed and Roméo looked to get away again. Balderstone joined the pair, with Yates, Bennett and the young Norwegian chasing at 10 seconds.
Roméo finally got what he wanted with 11km to go, powering away from Pinarello and Balderstone in the saddle. From here, no one was able to match him from any of the chase groups, with the Spanish champion crossing the line 15 seconds ahead of his closest chasers.
Bennett led the next group of three home 25 seconds after Roméo, with the main peloton finishing 44 seconds in arrears, led over the line by Visma development team rider Patryk Goszczurny. After his day in yellow, Reis ceded the jersey in a group that finished 4:40 down on the stage winner.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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