Gilmore wins explosive Barcelona battle as Vingegaard seals Volta a Catalunya GC

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) sealed the Volta a Catalunya GC as Brady Gilmore (NSN) sprinted to victory on the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya in Barcelona after an abundance of attacks failed to stick on the explosive Montjuïc circuit.

The Australian kept himself hidden well in the pack as the GC contenders launched many attacks at one another, before things knotted back together for a sprint finish where Gilmore finished ahead of Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) and Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

It marks the seventh victory of the 24-year-old’s career and first at the WorldTour level. It’s also the second victory for NSN at the race after Ethan Vernon sprinted to victory on stage 4. 

Meanwhile, Vingegaard dealt with all of the attacks that were thrown his way and looked assured in his position as leader of the race, sealing the GC ahead of Lenny Martinez and Florian Lipowitz.

The GC victory continues Vingegaard’s strong start to 2026, winning his second WorldTour stage race of the season after the Dane conquered Paris-Nice.

The finale of the Volta a Catalunya often produces fireworks in what is a short, explosive stage around the city of Barcelona, featuring a circuit that includes the steep Alto del Castell de Montjuïc. 

The circuit holds added significance for this season because Montjuïc will also feature in the Grand Depart at the Tour de France in July.

Five riders formed the day’s breakaway, including stage 2 winner Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost), Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Liam Slock (Lotto-Intermarché).

The quartet were kept on a relatively tight leash, and Red Bull led the peloton onto the final circuit with 55km, around 1:15 behind the breakaway riders. 

The breakaway was caught with 37km remaining, and shortly after, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe) lit the touch paper with an attack on the Montjuïc, but Jonas Vingegaard, Oscar Onley (Ineos Grenadiers), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious), and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) were locked on the wheel, forming a select group.

Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) brought a group of five across on the descent, including Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar), Antoine L’Hote (Decathlon CMA CGM), Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious), and Senna Remijn (Alpecin-Premier Tech).

From here, the race entered a phase of attacks as the group was seemingly too big to cooperate efficiently, with Vingegaard, Evenepoel, and Lipowitz among the main protagonists, while behind in the peloton, Decathlon CMA CGM led the chase as Felix Gall had missed the split.

The front group was brought back by the peloton with 29km remaining, and Jai Hindley immediately began to set a strong tempo for half a kilometre on the Montjuïc, which stretched out the peloton and deterred attacks, before Evenepoel launched another rocket. 

But once more, Vingegaard was dialled in and locked on the Olympic champion’s wheel with the same riders towards the forefront once more.

A brief lull followed, which Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) saw as an opportunity to attack as he was still in the mix to snatch the mountains classification from Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), but the Spaniard quickly sat up, thinking better of it, as Visma | Lease a Bike and Ineos Grenadiers also swarmed to the front with numbers alongside Red Bull.

The next GC attack came from Onley on the Montjuïc, with Vingegaard, Lipowitz, and Martinez able to follow. The gaps were minimal but enough for those in front to continue pressing on the pace, but nothing substantial stuck.

Another lull in the action following the descent saw another opportunistic attack, this time from Tobias Svarre (Uno-X Mobility), who led from the finish line by 10 seconds with two laps and 15.5km remaining.

Ciccone and Soler reignited their battle for the mountains jersey as Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) tagged along with their attack, and the trio bridged across to and distanced Svarre with 13km remaining.

Onley was the aggressor once more on the Montjuïc, and it nearly cost the Ciccone and Soler, but the Italian launched an attack towards the summit to take the points and seal the GC. Onley's effort split the race at the front with Vingegaard and Evenepoel, as well as the front three of Ciccone, Soler and O'Connor, but once more a lack of cooperation saw the group caught ahead of the bell lap.

Ineos controlled the final lap into the climb with Godon primed in position. Luca Vergallito (Alpecin-Premier Tech) attacked, Enric Mas (Movistar) countered, and Evenepoel and Lipowitz tried on the descent, but once more nobody broke clear.

Red Bull led into the final kilometre, but it was NSN’s Brady Gilmore who launched out of the wheels the quickest to take the biggest victory of his career.