Marc Soler gives Spain 1st Grand Tour stage win in 2 years

Madrid, Aug. 24 (BUS): As the finish line neared, Marc Soler looked over his shoulder and realized that his rivals weren’t going to catch him.

He threw his hand on his helmet in apparent disbelief, and then began to celebrate a great victory for himself and his country.

Soler sprinted on the final climb to win the fifth stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Wednesday and handed Spain its first stage victory at the Grand Tour in two years. No Spanish rider has won since Ion Izagiri climbed to the sixth stage of the 2020 Vuelta. Soler’s other win at Volta came in the second stage in 2020.

France’s Rudi Mollard was among the group of riders who crossed the line four seconds behind Soler and picked up the captain’s red jersey from three-times champion Primoz Roglic, who won Tuesday’s stage, according to the Associated Press.

Groupama-FDJ. “It means a lot to me. Last year, I quit racing because of a serious accident. I didn’t know if I would be able to get back to my best level. And after a year I’m driving a Grand Tour. I really struggled this winter, couldn’t do any sports for several weeks. You always have to believe.”

Mollard leads the general classification by two seconds over Fred Wright, the British jockey from Team Bahrain Victorious. Germany’s Nikias Arndt, of Team DSM, trailed in third by more than a minute.

Roglic, who was trying to become the first rider to win four consecutive Vuelta titles, slipped to fifth, more than four minutes off the lead. His Jumbo-Visma riders wore the red jersey on each of the first four stages.

The three-week race, which began with three stages in the Netherlands, will end in Madrid.

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