The Tour de France is not just about the big stars and the fight for the yellow jersey. Hugo Houle’s win in Foix, in the baking heat of a Pyrenean afternoon, a story of resilience in the context of profound loss, trumped any drama that Tadej Pogacar or Jonas Vingegaard could provide as the stalemate between them continued.
Instead, the day belonged to the 31-year-old Houle from Quebec, of the Israel-Premier Tech team, who made stage 16 the biggest victory of his career and then immediately paid tribute to his late brother, Pierrik, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver while out running a decade ago.
“It was a dream to win for my brother,” Houle said of his lone break with 39 kilometres remaining. “I wanted to win a stage in his honour. If I wrote a dream about how I’d win stages it would be exactly like this.”
Houle and his brother competed in cycling and triathlon. “When he died there was no one to share the story,” he said. “That was my way to keep believing. That was my motivation, to do it for my little brother. I had no idea I could do it, and today I did.”
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On another afternoon of searing temperatures, a breakaway group of 29 riders, including Houle, took shape as the peloton left Carcassonne and headed south into the Ariege. Best-placed of the breakaway riders was Aleksandr Vlasov, riding for Bora-Hansgrohe, who had started the stage 10 and a half minutes behind Jumbo Visma’s race leader Vingegaard.
Although battling the heat was a big concern for the peloton, Covid-19 again was a factor with two riders, Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Mikaël Cherel (AG2R-Citroën) testing positive and withdrawing before the stage. Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech) quit with broken ribs while Vlasov’s team-mate, Lennard Kämna, also left the race due to what his team called a persistent cold.
Alongside Houle and Vlasov in the break was points classification leader, Wout van Aert, one of Vingegaard’s key support riders. Whether Van Aert was there for his own ambitions, despite the loss of Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruiswijk from the Jumbo-Visma line-up, or to provide support to the race leader in the event of any late attacks, was unclear.
The defending champion Pogacar, seeking to make inroads into the Dane’s overall lead, was the main animator among the favourites. The UAE Emirates rider’s first attacks came shortly before the summit of the Port du Lers, and forced a selection on the final metres to the top of the climb. They were followed by a further jump almost immediately on the descent towards the brutal final climb, the Mur de Peguere.
On each occasion, however, Vingegaard was his equal, with Ineos Grenadiers’ Geraint Thomas following a few metres behind, before again catching up on the descent. Ahead, Houle raced into Foix to take his first Tour stage win, and his team’s second in this year’s race.
However, Jumbo-Visma’s tactics again raised eyebrows. Van Aert argued that his decision to race in the break was to ensure Vingegaard had support if he needed it. “The most important thing for the next two days is to give everything to support Jonas and the team,” Van Aert insisted.
But the momentum has swung back in Vingegaard’s favour. Marc Soler, one of Pogacar’s key team-mates, finished outside the time limit after suffering through the stage, clearly unwell. That, and Pogacar’s inability to land a telling blow, should soothe any Jumbo-Visma anxieties.
Romain Bardet, who started the stage in fourth place overall, tumbled to ninth in the general classification. “I was feverish, with headaches,” Bardet said. “It was a nightmare. Without my team-mates, I may not have finished the stage. I really didn’t feel well, with chills. I didn’t see it coming.”
But the story of the day was that of Houle and his beloved lost brother. “He went for a run and he never came back,” the Canadian told a sombre press room. “Me and my family, we had to search for him. I found him about three hours later. I took his hand and I saw the blood go from his ear and his mouth. That’s when I knew he was dead. I can tell you it hits you pretty hard.” – Guardian
