Hugo Houle (Israel – Premier Tech) made his mark at the start of this 20e and penultimate stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, when he jumped into the breakaway of half a dozen riders as soon as the real start was fired. However, the operation fizzled out after the first difficulty of the day on the 133-kilometre route between Nice and the summit of the Col de la Couillole.
Not yet satisfied with his four stage victories at this 2024 edition and his lead of more than 5 minutes over his closest pursuer Jonas Vingegaard (Visma – Lease a Bike), the holder of the yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) added a fifth to his tally. The Slovenian beat the Dane by 7 seconds. Third (+23 s), the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) played the King of the Mountains bonuses to ensure that he finishes the Tour with the polka dot jersey for best climber.
On the Israel – Premier Tech team side, Canadian Derek Gee slipped one place in the overall standings, going from eighth to ninth place (+24 min 50 s) after being on 12e (+2 min 48 s) to cross the finish line.
“We wanted to make sure that if there was something dangerous for Derek’s general classification, we could be there or control it. It started with the pedals in the Col de Braus and I didn’t necessarily have the legs to follow at that point and I stayed as long as possible with Derek and the guys on the team,” explained Houle, 46e (+17 min 22 s) of the day. “It’s a good day for me and for Derek who keeps his top 10 in general.
PHOTO JEROME DELAY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tadej Pogacar won the 20e stage
Sunday’s 34km mountain time trial could be favourable for Gee to move up the standings, after he put in a good showing in the solo effort at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, finishing third. Houle expects a tough battle between the Ontarian and American Matteo Jorgenson (Visma – Lease a Bike), who is one place ahead of him in the provisional standings.
“He will probably be his toughest opponent tomorrow, but he will also want to keep Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) behind who are probably less strong than him in the time trial. […] He’s in good shape and is doing well at the end of the Tour, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t have a great time trial.”
The stakes will be very different for the Quebecer who will want to enjoy this last day to the fullest on these training roads that he knows well.
“Finishing a sixth Tour de France is always a privilege to be there. The form was good throughout the Tour, especially in the third week. I was able to do a good job and I’m happy. There weren’t many openings for breakaways, but when it was time, I was there twice where it went to the end. I lacked a bit of luck to get a result in the second or eighteenth stage, but I was there. It’s a good Tour de France for me.”
Like nine other teams, Israel – Premier Tech was blanked on the list of stage wins this year unlike the last two editions. Simon Clarke and Hugo Houle had raised their arms in 2022 and Michael Woods had done the same last year.
“It’s very difficult to win the Tour, especially this year with Pogacar winning five (stages). That leaves fewer for the others. And for comparison, Groupama-FDJ hasn’t won one since 2019 and they’re an experienced team. The last few years have created expectations, but we shouldn’t be disappointed. We had a great Tour de France. We had an impact on the race.”
Check out the ranking of the 20e stage