'Go full-gas till you die and I'll take the rest' – Bastien Tronchon rockets past rivals to take Vuelta a España stage 10 victory

A chaotic final few kilometres in the Vuelta a España on stage 10 led to an even more chaotic sprint finish that saw French rider Bastien Tronchon (Groupama-FDJ United) sweep past all comers to take his maiden WorldTour victory.

It had been a hot and hard day in the hills of southern Spain, with a sprint finish expected despite the relentless ups and downs – many unclassified.

Visma-Lease a Bike, with cards to play from Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan, had made no secret of their intention to take the win, controlling the race for much of the day, but in the end Van Aert made do with fourth behind Tronchon, Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) and Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek).

With the GC contingent all finishing safely at the same time as Tronchon, there was no move in the overall top-10, with Enric Mas (Movistar) retaining the leader's red jersey.

The 24-year-old French rider was not certain he had won as he crossed the line, he said.

"I just launched my sprint," he said. "I finished on the line but I wasn't sure if there was some guys in front or not, so I didn't put my hands in the air, but that's crazy, I can't believe it."

He said his preparation for the Vuelta had not been ideal, and that he never expected to take a victory here. Indeed, he said he'd found the past few days very tough, but that he'd come round today.

"The last few days were really hard for me but today I was good," he said. "I said to Guillaume Martin 'go full gas until you die and I'll take the rest'. Crazy.

"The preparation wasn't very good," he added. "I wasn't feeling good last week. But I was like 'trust the process' and we'll see. When I took the start I was just like 'the job is done, now I just need to ride like I like'."

More to follow...