Geoffrey Soupe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Soupe in 2019 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Geoffrey Soupe |
| Born | 22 March 1988 Viriat, Ain, France |
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight | 68 kg (150 lb; 10.7 st) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Team TotalEnergies |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | |
| Amateur teams | |
| 2004 | EC Bourg-en-Bresse (junior) |
| 2005–2006 | VC Bressan (junior) |
| 2007–2008 | VC Vaulx-en-Velin (junior) |
| 2009–2010 | CC Étupes le Doubs |
| Professional teams | |
| 2011–2014 | FDJ |
| 2015–2019 | Cofidis[1][2] |
| 2020– | Total Direct Énergie[3] |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Geoffrey Soupe (born 22 March 1988) is a French professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI ProTeam Team TotalEnergies.[4] Primarily a lead out man and baroudeur, Soupe has taken four victories during his professional career, including a stage win at the 2023 Vuelta a España with his remaining wins coming at La Tropicale Amissa Bongo – stage victories in 2011 and 2023, along with the general classification in 2023.
FDJ (2011–2014)
Born in Viriat, Ain, Soupe competed for the EC Bourg-en-Bresse, VC Bressan and VC Vaulx-en-Velin setups as a junior, and the CC Étupes le Doubs squad as an amateur; in 2010, Soupe won the under-23 French National Road Race Championships,[5] and finished second to Great Britain's Alex Dowsett in the under-23 time trial at the European Road Championships.[6]
Soupe then joined the FDJ professional team for the 2011 season as a neo-pro.[7] In his first race for the team, Soupe won the opening stage of La Tropicale Amissa Bongo in Gabon – beating Team Europcar's Anthony Charteau in a two-man sprint[8] – before finishing the race in eighth place overall.[9] Soupe later added a stage victory in the Tour Alsace,[10] before quitting the race the next day.[11]
Soupe made his Grand Tour début at the 2012 Giro d'Italia, taking a third-place finish during the race's first mass-start stage in Herning, Denmark; a result that Soupe stated that he was "sorry" for, after he was supposed to be leading out the team's main sprinter Arnaud Démare, until he was caught up in a final-corner crash.[12]
Cofidis (2015–2019)
In August 2014 Cofidis announced that they had signed Soupe, alongside FDJ teammate Nacer Bouhanni, for 2015.[13] He made his first start at the Tour de France in the 2015 edition,[14] sharing sprint duties with Christophe Laporte, following Bouhanni's withdrawal in the opening week.[15] Over his five years with the team, Soupe recorded two top-ten individual finishes – sixth at the 2017 La Roue Tourangelle,[16] and eighth at the 2019 Elfstedenronde.
Total Direct Énergie (2020–present)
Soupe joined Total Direct Énergie for the 2020 season,[17] and finished ninth overall in his first race with the team at the Saudi Tour.[18] He took his first victory since 2011 at the 2023 La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, when he won the opening stage of the race in Gabon.[19] Having lost the overall lead to teammate Jason Tesson,[20] Soupe regained the lead when Tesson lost time on the penultimate day,[21] and Soupe ultimately won by approximately half a minute from his next closest challenger.[22] Later in the 2023 season, Soupe secured his first Grand Tour stage victory at the Vuelta a España, where he won the seventh stage in a bunch sprint.[23][24]
