Stage 7 Alexander Saly (BWB) 3h00'33'' Mulueberhane (ERI) 3h00'33'' Sergei Rostovtsev (BEY) 3h00'33'' Lorenzo Manzin (TEN) 3h00'33'' Emilien Jeanniere (TEN) 3h00'33'' General Classification Geoffrey Soupe (TEN) 20'18'16'' Hamza Amari (ALG) 20'18'45'' Christopher Rougier-Lagane (MRI) 20'18'50'' Natnael Berhane (BEY) 20'18'52'' Dawit Yemane (ERI) 20'18'54'' Geoffrey Soupe, who rides for TotalEnergies, was on Sunday, January 29, crowned winner of La Tropicale Amissa Bongo. The Frenchman went into the final stage from Cap Esterias to Libreville holding the yellow jersey with a 29-second lead ahead of second-placed Hamza Amari of Team Algeria. His teammates had to fight for him from the start to ensure that he crosses the finish line in Libreville leading the way which successfully achieved despite losing the final stage to Danish Alexander Salby of Bingoal-WB on sprint. Soupe had won the first stage in Oyem and dropped his yellow jersey after two days before taking it back on the eve of the final finish for a new triumph of Jean-René Bernaudeau's team. Generally, it wasn’t a race for Rwandan representatives who put up probably the worst display since Areruya Joseph won the race in 2018. Renus Byiza Uhiriwe finished ninth, clocking the same times as stage winner Salby. Despite failure to stop Soupe from winning the race, it is the first time that four African riders are in the top 5 of the Gabonese event with the Algerian Hamza Amari (2nd), Mauritian Alexander Rougier-Lagane (3rd) as well as Eritreans Natnael Berhane (4th) and Dawit Yemane (5th) all falling behind the French champion.
