(Montreal) After losing Guillaume Boivin, Rudy Barbier and Mads Würts Schmidt in battle earlier this week, the Israel-Premier Tech team continued to suffer from bad luck Thursday, as three more of its members were forced into abandoned at Paris-Nice.
Posted at 1:55 p.m.
Montrealer James Piccoli and Norwegian Carl Fredrik Hagen had to give up the event due to symptoms unrelated to COVID-19, while Belgian Tom Van Asbroeck was sidelined with a respiratory infection.
Hugo Houle was therefore the only cyclist in the squad to start the fifth stage of Paris-Nice. The Quebecer did not seem shaken by the loss of his companions, finishing 25and (+5 minutes 52 seconds) in the mountains between Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert and Saint-Sauveur-de-Montagut.
“I was disappointed not to have teammates on the roads today (Thursday). I hoped everything is going well on my side. There is certainly a virus running through the peloton, as there are 18 riders who did not start this morning. It’s a very special situation at the moment, ”explained the athlete from Sainte-Perpétue, who had to revise his strategy in the absence of his teammates.
“The form is there, all the staff of the team is behind me and I give my 110% because there is a lot of work to do when you don’t have teammates. I take care of myself, I have to be very careful to attack. I try to follow the best teams to enjoy their work. I have enough experience to make my place. »
American Brandon McNulty (UAE-Emirates) won the first victory of his career in a World Tour race by covering the last 38 kilometers solo. Frenchman Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM) took second place, finishing 1 minute 58 seconds behind the winner. American Matteo Jorgenson, of the Movistar team, finished third in the same time as Bonnamour.
Leader in the cumulative since Wednesday, the Belgian Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) could not do better than 98and rank, more than 24 minutes behind McNulty. He ceded the yellow jersey to Slovenian teammate Primoz Roglic, 23and of the day (+5 minutes 43 seconds).
Van Aert slipped to 62and rank after Thursday’s race, which allowed Briton Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco, +39 seconds) and Frenchman Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies, +41 seconds) to break into the top-3 of the provisional general classification.
For his part, Hugo Houle is approaching the top-10, he who is now in 11and up (+2 minutes 3 seconds).
“It was one of the best mountain stages of my career today (Thursday). We will see day by day for the next stages, it will not be easy, because there are still quite difficult events. I will try to recover well and be opportunistic by the end of the week,” concluded Houle.
Pogacar takes the lead
Double reigning champion of the Tour de France, Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) won the fourth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, in Italy, which allowed him to take first place in the provisional general classification of the competition.
Pogacar beat the Italian Filippo Ganna (INEOS-Grenadier), 29and Thursday, who had been at the top since the first stage. Ganna slipped to third, while Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) retained second place overall.
Evenepoel (+2 seconds) finished fourth on Thursday, at the same time as Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Frenchman Victor Lafay (Cofidis), respectively ranked second and third.
For his part, Quebecer Antoine Duchesne (Groupama-FDJ) took 64and of the 202 kilometer race, 5 minutes behind Pogacar. The cyclist from Saguenay occupies the 71and place (+6 minutes 33 seconds) in the provisional general classification.