Watching O Gran Camiño 2025 Roll Through Pontevedra
For the last three years, I’ve had the privilege of watching O Gran Camiño as it passed through my home city of Pontevedra. In 2023, I caught the action a bit over a mile away from home. Last year, despite the rain pouring down in torrents, I ventured out to see the race just a kilometer away. But this year, the race came even closer—within 200 meters of our doorstep!
That was the good news. The bad news? This year’s race lacked a certain star power. Two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard, who dominated every contested stage of O Gran Camiño in 2023 and 2024, wasn’t here. Instead, he and his Visma-Lease a Bike team opted to race in the Volta ao Algarve. While there were still several World Tour teams present, it seemed like few brought their A-level riders. (Apparently, revisions to the UCI points system—which now heavily favors the more prestigious events such as one-day classics over smaller stage races—has a lot to do with this.)
Take Soudal-QuickStep, for example. They were here, but without their superstar, Remco Evenepoel, who is recovering from a nasty crash where he was accidentally doored by a motorist. My favorite Spanish rider from the same team, Mikel Landa, also wasn’t on the start list. In fact, of the 120 riders in the peloton, I had only heard of two before the race: Canada’s Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and Denmark’s Magnus Cort (Team Uno-X Mobility). Cort, the ever-aggressive and animated Dane, had won Stage 1 yesterday—and as it would turn out, he’d win today’s stage as well.
This year’s O Gran Camiño also had some key differences. First, the race added an extra stage, bringing the total to five instead of the usual four. Second, unlike the last two years, the peloton wasn’t actually racing through Pontevedra. Instead, the riders rolled through the city in a neutral zone, starting in neighboring Marín and making their way past the iconic Iglesia de la Virgen Peregrina before the real racing began 10 km away. Given some of the obstacles in town, this was probably for the best. At one point, the riders had to slow to a near stop, with some even unclipping before crossing the bridge.
While there were other spectators nearby, most had gathered on the Puente de los Tirantes. That left me essentially on an island by myself, enjoying a front-row view of the passing peloton. After the race rolled by, I took advantage of the nice weather and headed out for a 25-km ride in the Galician hills.
Was this year’s O Gran Camiño as memorable as the first two editions I saw? Not quite. The absence of Vingegaard and the sport’s biggest names took some of the excitement out of it. But it was still a pleasure to see the race pass right by home—and for once, under sunny skies. I’m already looking forward to seeing what next year’s edition brings!
Video
Below is a short video I took of the cyclists riding through Pontevedra.
