diff --git a/cubed/core/ops.py b/cubed/core/ops.py
index fbf66233..811435f5 100644
--- a/cubed/core/ops.py
+++ b/cubed/core/ops.py
@@ -1100,7 +1100,8 @@ def _rechunk_plan(x, chunks, *, min_mem=None):
             yield read_chunks, target_chunks_
         else:
             yield read_chunks, int_chunks
-            yield write_chunks, target_chunks_
+            if last_stage:
+                yield write_chunks, target_chunks_
 
 
 def _rechunk(x, copy_chunks, target_chunks):
diff --git a/cubed/tests/test_rechunk.py b/cubed/tests/test_rechunk.py
index ab4e178b..74ce6a13 100644
--- a/cubed/tests/test_rechunk.py
+++ b/cubed/tests/test_rechunk.py
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ def test_rechunk_era5(
         if d.get("op_name", None) == "rechunk"
     ]
 
-    # each stage has two ops due to intermediate store
-    assert len(rechunks) == expected_num_stages * 2
+    # number of rechunk copy ops is one more than the number of stages
+    assert len(rechunks) == expected_num_stages + 1
 
     max_input_blocks = max(
         d["pipeline"].config.num_input_blocks[0] for _, d in rechunks
@@ -95,13 +95,9 @@ def test_rechunk_era5_chunk_sizes(spec):
     rechunk_plan = list(_rechunk_plan(a, target_chunks))
     assert rechunk_plan == [
         ((93, 721, 1440), (93, 240, 480)),
-        ((465, 240, 480), (465, 240, 480)),
         ((465, 240, 480), (465, 120, 240)),
-        ((2325, 120, 240), (2325, 120, 240)),
         ((2325, 120, 240), (2325, 40, 120)),
-        ((11625, 40, 120), (11625, 40, 120)),
         ((11625, 40, 120), (11625, 20, 60)),
-        ((58125, 20, 60), (58125, 20, 60)),
         ((58125, 20, 60), (58125, 10, 30)),
         ((350640, 10, 30), (350640, 10, 10)),
     ]