Roglic (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe), who had already won in Catalonia in 2023, surprised the competition with an early attack. The 35-year-old flexed his muscles on the fourth of six final laps on the 88-kilometre city circuit through Barcelona, surprising the competition and especially Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates - XRG). However, the young Spaniard, who actually wanted to win his second grand tour of the year in his home city after Tirreno-Adriatico, was not in the form of the previous days.

Ayuso wasn't able to catch up, on the contrary, he even struggled to keep up with the main group in the finale. Things actually looked good for the 22-year-old at the beginning after he equalised the virtual lead that Roglic had taken at the first intermediate sprint by winning bonus seconds at the second sprint.

Belgian duo sprint behind Roglic

Ultimately, however, Ayuso had to consider himself lucky to have at least defended second place in the overall standings. While Roglic was able to complete his 21-kilometre solo, Enric Mas (Movistar) and Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick-Step) also managed to put a few seconds between themselves and their young rivals, but were unable to cross the finish line. Two Belgians managed to do what the Spanish duo could not: Laurens de Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto) were able to break away on the last crossing of the 1992 Olympic mountain and sprinted for second place 14 seconds behind Roglic and five ahead of the field, but kept their sixth and eighth places in the overall standings. In the top 10, only the top two swapped positions.

"This Volta was extremely close and was decided by the bonus seconds on the last stage. After the second sprint, I had no other choice - if I wanted to win, I had to do something. In the end, I had the legs to pull it off. The team did a great job, we rode strongly and had a good time. I really enjoyed this week," was the first conclusion of an extremely relaxed Roglic, who will now go on holiday for a few days and then start preparing for the Giro d'Italia. With plenty of self-confidence, it seems.

Roglic clears everything

Because Roglic won everything in Catalonia. Two stage wins, the overall classification and, thanks to his furious ride on the final day, the points classification and the mountains jersey, which he took from Luxembourg's Mats Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma), who had already taken the jersey, at least virtually, by the same number of points.

The best German in the final standings was Emanuel Buchmann (Cofidis), who finished 22nd, 4:09 minutes behind Roglic. Lennard Kämna (Lidl - Trek) largely swam with the field in his comeback race and finished 64th.

Tour of Catalonia 2025 - Results of the 7th stage

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This is how the 7th stage of the Tour of Catalonia 2025 went

The second shortest stage in the long history of the Tour of Catalonia, which was about to conclude its 104th edition, was immediately followed by the third shortest. 139 riders took on the section through Barcelona.

There was tension and excitement in the race right from the start. Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe kept the pace so high from the start that breakaways had no chance. After twelve kilometres, the first bonus sprint awaited. While the German team was tactically convincing there and piloted Roglic to three bonus seconds, Ayuso, who was left alone by his UAE team, had to make do with one, which meant that the overall standings had already virtually turned in Roglic's favour again.

Ayuso then secured the second sprint on the first passage of the finish line. Because he outsprinted Nico Denz (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) and Roglic was only third, the old gap was restored, which saw the Spaniard with a one-second advantage. Immediately afterwards, the second part of the race began - and the attacks. Because now it was all about the mountain jersey. While none of the direct rivals were able to score points at the first classification, Wenzel won the second and thus took the virtual lead in the battle for the jersey.

Roglic risks the early solo

In the third lap, the two came away empty-handed again, but there were no dangerous attacks either. Then came the fourth lap. There Roglic attacked on Montjuic. The previous day's winner Quinn Simmons (Lidl - Trek) tried to chase with Simon Yates (Visma | Lease a Bike), but was brought back on the following lap. Roglic, on the other hand, built up a cushion of up to 20 seconds.

In the penultimate lap, Enric Mas (Movistar), Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick-Step) and Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) went on the offensive, with Lenenrt Van Eetvelt (Lotto) also taking part. Meanwhile, Ayuso came under increasing pressure and struggled to stay in the main group. But this group was also brought back initially. Van Eetvelt tried again on the final climb, this time taking Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) with him. The duo were within nine seconds of Roglic at the crest, but Roglic didn't let anything happen in the last five kilometres on the descent and was able to relax and celebrate on the finishing straight.