Hugo Houle (Israel – Premier Tech) played his role as a team member in the Flèche brabançonne, a Belgian race rated 1. Pro contested on Wednesday, on a 205 kilometer course between Louvain and Overijse. The Sainte-Perpétue cyclist was the 16and (+1 minute 45 seconds) of the event where he set the table for his teammate Daryl Impey (13and).
Posted at 4:49 p.m.
The 19-year-old American, Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers), won solo with a lead of 37 seconds over Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën) for whom it is another place of honor behind a representative of INEOS Grenadiers.
Indeed, because the Frenchman also finished second in the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday, where the victory between Michal Kwiatkowski and him was decided at the photo finish.
I had already worked well before to try to close the gap behind the top ten, but in the end, it didn’t help too much. The legs were good, I managed well and I was happy. It is clear that for the team, it would have been necessary to have someone in front, but I am happy with the feelings I had.
Hugo Houle
The Quebecer will again hang a bib at the Flèche wallonne in a week, which means that he will not be at the start of Paris-Roubaix on Sunday. A situation that is far from displeasing to him.
“Not doing Paris-Roubaix is exactly what I wanted and I’m very happy. I don’t particularly like this race which is very difficult. I think I can perform better at Flèche wallonne and at Liège-Bastogne-Liège for myself and for the team than what I can bring to Paris-Roubaix, especially since our Classics team is still badly battered. Having done the Tour of the Basque Country, I preferred to focus on the Ardennes. »
No Quebecer was at the start of the women’s La Flèche brabançonne event, which was won solo by the Dutchwoman Demi Vollering (SD Worx).
Tour of Turkey (2. Pro)
Earlier in the day, at the fourth stage of the Tour of Turkey, Nickolas Zukowsky (Human Powered Health) finished in 117and rank. The cyclist from Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides reached the finish in a group of around sixty riders who finished almost 16 minutes behind the winner, the Argentinian Eduardo Sepulveda (Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli).
Thanks to his victory on the 146 kilometer course between Izmir and the finish at the summit in Manisa, Sepulveda grabs the leader’s jersey with a 14-second lead over New Zealander Patrick Bevin (Israel – Premier Tech). Zukowski is 81andat 15 minutes 53 seconds.
The tour will end on Sunday in İstanbul.