Hugo Houle had been right the day before when he accurately predicted what would happen during Stage 5.
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Sainte-Perpétue’s Nostradamus may have thought he was reading proven predictions.
Sensing the opportunity, Houle feared a dangerous driver in the standings would nix the attempt. At the beginning of the tour, the distances are still small.
AFP
As a member of the day’s breakaway, Houle was indeed surrounded by top-flight riders. The Israel – Premier Tech team cyclist quickly spotted Jai Hindley, who, just 22 seconds back, became too serious a contender for Vingegaard’s Jumbo and Pogacar’s UAE to give up the chase.
Another time
Houle and teammate Krists Neilands will have to try their poker luck another time.
“That’s what happened. I was happy to be in the lead. With the quality of the drivers, I quickly realized that it was going to be very complicated. All of the General’s teams were there with two or three drivers. “It was a extremely demanding day,” explained the Quebecer.
Houle quickly decided that the opponent’s cards were too strong to win the bet. He lifted his foot in the Col du Soudet.
“With only 15 riders and only big names, I knew I had no chance of winning the stage. It calmed me down a bit. There will be days when the opportunity will be more interesting,” he summarized.
Jean François Racine
Despite encouraging signs, Houle preferred to remain rational as the race is still young. The Olympian declined to comment on teammate Neilands’ solo adventure. The discussion may have taken place in the dressing room with the door closed.
“It’s a good operation for Bora. That will be interesting! »
In hit
Manager Steve Bauer didn’t seem too disappointed with the end result.
“NO. We were there. It was a very aggressive race. Mike didn’t waste too much time overall. We still have a lot of good days ahead of us. Dylan Teuns is good too. We’re in,” said the former yellow jersey player 1988 and 1990. Bauer finally clarified what Houle would have wanted to say about Neilands: “He went alone a little earlier.”
Jean François Racine
As for his personal memories of cycling in the Pyrenees, Bauer brought up the conversation with a laugh. “I hate!” the 64-year-old Ontario native began in French.
On the 144.9 kilometer 6th stage between Tarbes and Cauterets-Cambasque, the cyclists climb in particular the Col d’Aspin and the mythical Tourmalet. The last climb after Cauterets is 16 kilometers with 5.4%.
In the notebook
-In a pizzeria in Laruns, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, our little towers of coins on the table amused our neighbors. “They stole the collection from the church,” they said, referring to the donations for the lanterns.
– Team Israel premier tech big boss and owner Sylvan Adams doesn’t waste much time on the team bus. A passionate cyclist, he won two Canadian titles in Quebec last weekend. On Wednesday, the businessman and two partners cycled at full throttle on a winding regional road about 25 kilometers from the finish in Laruns
-Thursday in Tarbes, in the Haute-Pyrénées, the city will host the Tour for the 15th time. The most recent arrival was Pierrick Fédrigo’s victory in 2009. Ten years later, Thibaut Pinot set out from Tarbes with Julian Alaphilippe in yellow to attack the Col du Tourmalet and claim his most overwhelming victory.
-Twelve years ago, Cadel Evans became Australia’s first Tour de France winner. Since then, Simon Gerrans (2013) and Rohan Dennis (2015) have worn the yellow jersey.
-Stats intrigue the younger generation who swear by Strava. Jonas Vingegaard was faster than all his competitors on the climb of the Col de Marie Blanque in the 2023 Tour de France. He also beat KOM Strava, held by Tadej Pogacar since his first stage win in Laruns in 2020.
– As we left Laruns and embarked on a 50km journey to Lourdes, the night passage in the Hautes-Pyrénées gave our team cold sweats with terribly narrow single lane roads in the rain. We used a line from the movie Slap Shot in French: “J’ai une mieux idée, on se…”