Vuelta A Espana Cycling Race Begins Stage In Supermarket Prompting Several Jokes

Cycling is, for lack of a better term, a bizarre sport.

The unique circumstances of road cycling mean you see things like riders stopping mid-way through races to go to cafes. Or fans almost running over riders after getting kicked into the street.

But the start of Thursday’s sixth stage of the legendary Vuelta a Espana took things to the next level by starting…inside of supermarket?

Yuuuup. You’re seeing that correctly. Stage 6 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana goes from Jerez de la Frontera to Junquera and began in a Carrefour supermarket.

So, why is the stage starting inside a supermarket?

Well Carrefour, a French chain that is the seventh-largest in the world,, is in tts 12th year at the Vuelta a Espana’s primary sponsor.

Road cycling is highly reliant on these sponsorship deals considering fans watch from the side of the road so races do not generate any ticket revenue.

But this is about as bizarre a thing as you’ll see.

No word yet on if anything made a quick run down the snack aisle before the race.

Some fans loved the creative start to the stage.

“Starting todays Vuelta stage in a supermarket is cycling at its Apex. Nothing can possibly top this,” one fan tweeted.

“I yearn for the day I can linger in a cheese aisle and watch the start of a cycling race at the same time,’ wrote another.

But not everybody was as excited about it.

“Gotta love how tinpot cycling is,” @TheDanCobb wrote on Twitter. “Today’s Vuelta stage is starting inside a Carrefour supermarket. Obviously, the Lidl-Trek team come here facing hostilities. But just look at these pre-race scenes ffs.”

Three-time Vuelta a Espana race winner Primoz Roglic entered the stage as the race leader. While American and defending winner Sepp Kuss is in 13th just 1:14 behind.