While Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar neutralized each other for the third day in a row, Hugo Houle recovered after a health-related scare last week.
“It gives me a little morale,” admitted the Quebec cyclist after finishing 13th in a 15th stage marked by the fall of his teammate Krists Neilands and won by Dutch climber Wout Poels (Bahrain), Sunday, in Saint- Gervais Mont Blanc.
After a failure by compatriot Michael Woods on the main climb of the day, Houle took advantage of a “carte blanche” at Israel-Premier Tech (IPT) to clinch his best Tour de France result since winning Foix l’Israel. last year.
“I’m very happy with my last three days,” said the man who has broken away for more than 200 kilometers since Friday.
“After the sixth stage, I didn’t brag about it too much, but I got sick. I had yellowish secretions and all the patent. I feel pretty normal since stage 12 [Thursday]. I was a little worried it would go wrong. We managed to manage that well. I feel better and better. I hope I can continue to be offensive like that in week three. »
Shortly after the start in Les Gets Les Portes du Soleil, Houle joined a large breakaway group of almost 40 cyclists. Woods, Neilands and Dylan Teuns accompanied him for this second alpine stage, all on the attack for the team of Sylvan Adams and Jean Bélanger.
Well ahead of the yellow jersey group of Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), which left them more than seven minutes ahead, the breakaway picked up pace in the Col de la Croix Fry, the longest climb of the stage. (11.3 km at 7%).
An attack by former world champion Rui Costa (Intermarché), winner of the Montreal Grand Prix in 2011, seemed to stimulate the main climbers, such as future polka dot jersey Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek).
Woods (67th, 27 min 52), first at Puy-de-Dôme a week earlier, was unable to keep up this time, which gave free rein to his three teammates still in the game .
Neilands was once again the most legged of the IPTs, responding to an impressive acceleration from Wout van Aert (Jumbo) before the summit of the Aravis passes. With Poels, they came back to Marc Soler (UAE), who had started earlier just under fifty kilometers from the finish.
Fourth at Issoire on Tuesday, Neilands, although a good rider, fell on the descent after grabbing a can from the neutral recovery bike, which snagged him. A “technical error”, according to Houle, which threw the Latvian hard near a cement parapet. Fortunately, he picked himself up to reach the finish in 35th place.
“I’m disappointed and sad for him with the quality of his legs right now. It is very difficult to win at the Tour and today he had an opportunity. […] He is not too busy. He will recover. He’s a warrior. »
After clinging to the group of pursuers with Teuns, who just came back, Houle set off at full speed on the descent to Domancy, the last bit of flat before the final climb to Saint-Gervais Le Bettex. So much so that the Quebecer, who was 1:15 behind the three leading men, gave himself a priority of a few seconds over his breakaway companions.
It’s no coincidence that Houle allowed himself to stick his tongue out and smile a little at the motorcycle camera…
Incidentally, Teuns, best IPT with an 11th place, was able to save himself a little bit.
Seeking to avoid “a shot in the water”, Houle got up to tackle the final Côte des Amerands-Le Bettex sequence in the best possible mood.
Poels got rid of van Aert from the start, condemning Soler, who had just returned. Faithful lieutenant of Chris Froome in his last three conquests of the yellow jersey, the 35-year-old Dutchman won the Tour de France for the very first time.
Like Pello Bilbao, crowned in Issoire, Poels cracked a little when talking about his teammate Gino Mäder, who died tragically a month earlier after a fall in the Tour de Suisse.
“I’ve been dreaming about it since I was very young, expressed the winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2016. All the emotions come out after what the team has been through with Gino for three weeks. It’s just amazing. I won a monument, I won a stage in the Tour, I’m super happy. »
Van Aert finished second again, followed by Frenchman Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies).
“I gave the maximum in the final climb not to be crunched by Pogačar and Vingegaard”, explained Houle, returned to 5 min 31 s, but only 30 seconds in front of the two ogres of the race.
Like the day before, Pogačar’s UAE, led by Adam Yates, took the initiative in the ultimate ascent, without managing to shake Vingegaard. Despite three starts in the last kilometer, the Slovenian (16th) only managed to outpace the Danish yellow jersey by half a wheel.
Vingegaard (17th) therefore kept his priority of 10 seconds in the lead. “Today I was more in control than normal,” said the defending champion.
Pogačar felt “the climb was too easy” for his main rival. “I tried, but I knew he was great today. I gave it my all, but I suspected that I wouldn’t make a difference. So I will keep trying next week. »
“Be happy,” urged his teammate Rafal Majka, who was looking to cheer him up after another failed attempt.
True to his prediction at the start, Houle is confident that Pogačar will turn things around. “Everything is fine, under control, my racehorse will be in yellow in Paris…”
For his part, he will take advantage of the rest day on Monday and the time trial on Tuesday to regain his strength. Without being in the form of last year, he hopes to approach it next week, where he still sees two great opportunities.
“We’re not far away, but if the progress continues, I’ll be very, very strong after the Tour…”
