Affected by a sore neck since the day before, Hugo Houle abandoned the Montreal Cycling Grand Prix before the end of the first of 18 laps on Sunday morning.
Posted at 11:09 a.m.
After his withdrawal three laps from the end of the Quebec GP on Friday, the Quebecer had no illusions about his chances of shining on Mount Royal.
Approaching the end of the final loop, Houle was already in the trailer cars as the peloton chased a breakaway group of 21 riders some 30 seconds ahead.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Hugo Houle
Houle stopped in the paddocks of the Israel-Premier Tech team even before the first crossing of the line, after 12 km of racing. The stage winner at the Tour de France woke up the day before with a painful neck pain. “It was worse this morning,” he said before setting off. He hoped that a treatment would relieve his pain, which obviously did not happen.
Houle must fly Monday evening to Belgium for the Grand Prix de Wallonie, scheduled for Friday. In addition, the presentation of the IPT training was somewhat disrupted by a pro-Palestinian demonstration. “No to the apartheid of sport”, could be read on a large sign displayed near the start and finish line. A dozen Palestinian flags were also waved.
In the second Tour, Antoine Duchesne (Groupama-FDJ) slipped into a new six-man breakaway. This is probably the last start of the Saguenay native’s career.