Vuelta a Espana: Surprise winner Soupe wins the slow stage in a bunch sprint

For the most part, nothing happened on the 200 kilometres between Utiel and Oliva. José Herrada (Cofidis) and Ander Okamika (Burgos - BH) broke away in the first kilometre, but managed to pull out a maximum lead of two and a half minutes. Like the rest of the peloton, they took it easy.

>> Vuelta 2023 - all results at a glance

Although there were no topographical obstacles and the stage was categorised as a flat stage, the average speed was barely over 40 km/h - well below the slowest planned average. With 41 kilometres to go, Okamika was the last of the two breakaway riders. And the peloton strolled on.

Arensman has a serious fall and is taken away in an ambulance

Things only got hectic in the last ten kilometres. Two heavy crashes characterised the finale. Thymen Arensman (Ineos Greandiers) was hit the hardest five kilometres before the finish. After a chain reaction triggered by two Alpecin-Deceuninck riders, the Dutchman remained lying on the tarmac for several minutes. He had to be taken away on a stretcher in an ambulance with a neck brace.

The chaos affected the bunch sprint. The teams had still not found each other again. A 90-degree bend 350 metres before the finish line did the rest. Surprise winner Soupe had opted for the inside lane and was able to sprint unchallenged. Although, no less surprisingly, Aular roared past at a higher final speed, it was ultimately only enough for second place.

Vuelta: The top 10 of stage 7

1. Geoffrey Soupe (TotalEnergies) 4:56:29 hours
2. Orluis Aular (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) +0:00
3. Edard Theuns (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
4. Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
5. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:00
6. Marijn van den Berg (EF Education - EasyPost) +0:00
7. Davin Gonzalez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) +0:00
8. Hugo Page (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) +0:00
9. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:00
10. Matevz Govekar (Bahrain Victorious) +0:00

Soupe without a big win so far

It was the first major victory for the 35-year-old Soupe. He had previously only won two stages (2011 and 2023) at the Tropicale Amissa Bongo. Winning a stage at the Vuelta is by far his greatest success. All sorts of things had to come together for this. As he later said, Soupe was only nominated for the Tour of Spain because a team-mate had crashed in preparation. He was only scheduled as a lead-out man, but his sprinter was held up in the crash beforehand.

>> Vuelta 2023 - all stages at a glance

Nothing has changed in the distribution of the classification jerseys. Lenny Martinez (Groupama - FDJ) continues to lead the overall standings and the young rider classification. Kaden Groves is in green, Eduardo Sepulveda (Lotto Dstny) is the best climber.

Vuelta: The top 10 in the overall standings after stage 7

1. Lenny Martinez (Groupama - FDJ) 26:37:04
2. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) +0:08
3. Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) +0:51
4. Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) +1:41
5. Steff Cras (TotalEnergies) +1:48
6. Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) +1:58
7. David de la Cruz (Astana Qazqastan) +2:23
8. Jefferson Cepeda (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) +2:30
9. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick-Step) +2:47
10. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +2:50