Magnus Cort (Uno X-Mobility) won the fifth and final stage of O Gran Camiño to seal a memorable hat-trick at the race, soaring clear of the peloton in a bunch sprint in Santiago de Compostela.
The Dane won by multiple bike-lengths, pulling off a powerful sprint in a similar manner to his victory on stage 2, with Carlos Canal (Movistar) best of the rest behind him and Giovanni Lonardi (Polti VisitMalta) third.
Cort’s three stage victories – on stages one, two and five – helped him to third place on the overall podium too, behind Canadian Derek Gee (Israel PremierTech) and Davide Piganzoli (Polti VisitMalta), as well as the points classification.
Gee, who had worn the leader’s jersey since stage three’s time trial, finished the race a comfortable 35 seconds ahead of the Italian and 38 ahead of Cort.
"I'm super happy," Gee said after the stage. "You know the legs are good but it's never over until you finish the last stage, so there was a lot of relief crossing that line.
"All week the team's been fantastic, they're super strong and they kept me super safe. In the end my job was pretty easy - not physically, but they made it as easy as possible!"
Stage five featured multiple gravel sectors, and when asked about the 'sterrato' sectors Gee said, "It was fantastic, it made for some really exciting racing. Maybe at some points is stressful as a rider, when you're doing gravel and you don't want to flat out, but in the end it was pretty fun."
How it unfolded
The final stage of the race was also its longest, a punchy course including two ascents of the category 3 Alto de Lampai, and interspersed with gravel sectors.
Several teams were keen to get in the break from the flag drop, but after a series of early attacks nine riders eventually formed the day’s breakaway.
Martin Marcellusi (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè), Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ), Fredrik Dversnes (Uno X-Mobility), Mats Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma), Josh Burnett (Burgos Burpellet BH), Nicolás Alustiza (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Rafael Reis (Anicolor / Tien 21), Asier Pablo Gonzalez (Illes Balears Araby) and Pedro Castro Pinto (Efapel Cycling) formed the lead group and soon worked up a healthy two-minute lead.
But despite their strength in numbers, the breakaway was eventually undone by counter-attacks from within the group and squabbles over who was doing the work. Marcellusi launched a solo move with around 80km to go, ahead of the first of six gravel sectors, but once he was reeled in the break continued to fragment. Castro Pinto was dropped and caught by the peloton, while Dversnes then tried unsuccessfully to go solo himself.
As their advantage rapidly dropped away, Marcellusi went on the attack again, this time on the day’s final categorised climb, the second ascent of the Alto de Lampai. Braz and Dversnes responded immediately, but it was too little, too late as the break was swiftly caught.
Another move soon came on the 5.2km climb as Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ) shot off the front with around 25km left to race. Samuel Fernández (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) latched on his wheel and soon looked to be suffering as his French companion piled on the pace. Israel PremierTech continued to control proceedings behind, content to let riders who were no threat to Gee’s overall lead get up the road.
Rochas soon put Fernández out of his misery as he accelerated away, while Braz, Burnett and Dversnes from the early breakaway regrouped to form a four-man chasing group, along with James Knox (Soudal Quick-Step).
By the final 10km Rochas and his pursuers had all been brought back and another frenetic flurry of counter-attacks kicked off, with the race leader and two-time stage winner Cort covering all the moves.
As the peloton rolled at high speed into Santiago de Compostela the riders jostled for position in the impending bunch sprint. Cort drifted through the peloton rather than opting to sit on his lead-out, and his confidence was rewarded: once he launched, no one able to stay on his wheel, and it was an easy third victory of the week for the Dane.
Results
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