Every dog has his day and today it was the turn of Geoffrey Soupe; the 35-year-old late call-up to La Vuelta for TotalEnergies. Though he had only three minor victories in a 13-year career before today, he has now won stage 6 on the Spanish Grand Tour.
Soupe came through a chaotic finish - with many twists and turns and crashes - to divebomb the final corner and get to the front. He then opened his final kick for the line as the favourites bumped and barged each other and were also caught out by a lead-out man pulling across the road.
While Venezuelan champion, Orluis Aular (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), came through strongly on the line to almost pip the unheralded Soupe, the bearded Frenchman hung on; winning it from the front and celebrating wildly with his team mates after the finish.
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"To win a sprint in a Grand Tour is always special and also a surprise," Soupe said. "I've always wanted to taste victory in a Grand Tour. It's an unbelievable, indescribable moment for me. I saw that I could launch my sprint from a ways to go after the last corner and I was surprised when nobody from behind me came past.
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"It's beautiful for me and the team because normally I didn't have the Vuelta [on my calendar] this year but Alexis Vuillermoz crashed in the Tour de l'Ain and the team decided to take me to the Vuelta. I didn't think it was possible to win a stage because it's really fast in the sprints. Today it was really nervous in the final, we had a lot of roundabouts and a lot of wind in the final."
Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who already has two stage wins on this Vuelta, finished 5th and was seen banging his bars in frustration as he crossed the line. He was bumped around in the final corner but was also not helped by a sudden move to the right by one of his lead-out men, which caused everyone right behind to swerve. costing vital momentum in the sprint.
A bad crash with 5km to go marred the stage end, especially as Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) was unable to continue and looked badly injured on the road before being taken away by ambulance. There were many fallers in that same crash, which was caused when an Alpecin-Deceuninck rider sitting behind Groves rubbed wheels and crashing first.
French talent Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) continues to lead the race overall, after taking the red jersey yesterday, and being the youngest ever rider to wear it at 20-years-old. He has eight seconds over Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), yesterday's stage winner, with Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) 3rd at 51 seconds.
