Tour of France | A cruel sport

“I was aiming for a good result today and I had the legs to do it. Unfortunately, we made a big mistake and it was not possible. I blame myself and it is inexcusable…”

Hugo Houle gave himself a soap after a stage where his team missed the good shot in the Côte d’Ivory.

It was not time to look for the beauty of the same name when Kasper Asgreen, Ben O’Connor and Matej Mohorič took flight at the foot of the last difficulty of a 19^e a somewhat crazy stage in the Tour de France, carried out at full speed from kilometer 0 on Friday.

Already Guillaume Boivin, Simon Clarke and Nick Schultz had pedaled like crazy to close the gap on the first breakaway of the day, missed by Israel-Premier Tech (IPT), the Norwegians from Uno-X and the roses from EF Education, who also pushed to the wheel.

A few rows behind, just in front of the Jumbo-Vismas of the yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard, Houle gritted his teeth, his head a little more inclined than usual.

“I was nervous! After all the efforts the guys made, I didn’t want to miss my shot when we got back,” said Houle, the last rider to try to come back from this initial breakaway.

The crank part at some 50 km/h lasted a good hour, the gap with the leaders freezing desperately around the minute.

Ney’s intermediate sprint, disputed by the Alpecin-Deceuninck of the green jersey Jasper Philipsen, finally gave the necessary impetus to a regrouping. Race restarted 70 kilometers from the finish.

This time, IPT ended up with four in a group of 35 units. Clarke continued his effort to trail the untenable Belgian Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny), en route to a second consecutive Fighter of the Day selection. The Australian veteran, however, suffered from cramps on the Ivory Coast, depriving IPT of a quarter of his leading contingent.

When Asgreen (Soudal Quick-Step) started first, Houle and Krists Neilands were not very well placed. “I didn’t want to put myself completely in the red and then jump,” explained the 32-year-old Quebecer.

Especially since his team could count on his “trump card” for a sprint, the young Corbin Strong. However, the New Zealander fell on the descent, leaving Houle and Neilands the responsibility of defending the colors blue, white and orange.

At 15 km, Asgreen, O’Connor (AG2R) and Mohorič (Bahrain) held a priority of around twenty seconds. In a scenario worthy of the Belgian Spring Classics, nine riders formed a world-class pursuit group, with names like Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin), Philipsen, Tom Pidcock (Ineos), Mads Pedersen (Lidl), Matteo Trentin (UAE) and company.

Seconds behind, Houle told teammate Neilands to watch for the two Jumbo-Vismas, Christophe Laporte and Tiejs Benoot, who had missed the shot like them. “With my experience, I knew that one of the two would succeed in returning. »

Neilands himself went out with Frenchman Laporte in his wheel… He came back empty-handed.

Houle took the blame along with his Latvian roommate. “It is unacceptable that one of us was not there for the sprint for fourth place. »

The leading trio indeed went to the end in Poligny. O’Connor, the slowest, launched the first, followed by Asgreen, who was aiming for a second consecutive victory after his triumph in extremis the day before at Bourg-en-Bresse.

But it was Mohorič, with a perfectly synchronized jerk, who got the better of the Dane. By a rim (contoured), showed the finish photo, which is four thousandths of a second.

In tears after the third success of his career on the Tour, Mohorič delivered a vibrant plea on the “cruelty” and “harshness” of cycling.

« Tu souffres beaucoup pendant la préparation, a déballé le Slovène. Tu sacrifies ta vie et famille et tu fais tout ton possible pour arriver prêt ici. Puis, après quelques jours, tu réalises que tout le monde est incroyablement fort, que c’est parfois difficile de simplement suivre la roue du gars devant toi. »

L’ex-vainqueur de Milan-San Remo a loué « la volonté et la détermination » d’Asgreen d’attaquer de nouveau après sa victoire de la veille.

« Tu as l’impression que tu n’as pas d’affaire là. Puis je le suis, par la seule force du mental, et je sais que je dois tout faire à la perfection [pour espérer l’emporter]. »

For Gino Mäder, his teammate who was killed in the race last month, and the team staff members, who have to jog at 6 a.m. to accomplish their daily work until 11 p.m.

Mohorič even had a thought for O’Connor (3^e), who committed himself to the end, knowing his chances were almost non-existent.

A little more, and Mohorič apologized for having inherited the bouquet. “I know I’m strong enough to win a Tour de France stage, but so are 150 other guys. Right now, every runner deserves a win. I saw their faces in the gruppetto in the Col de la Loze the other day. You know what they go through. I would like each one of them to win a stage because I know how much it changes your life. But that is not possible. And it’s cruel. »

Sixteenth in this stage, completed at a speed of 49.13 km/h, the fifth average in history, Houle agreed perfectly.

“At the speed it is going, if you are not at your best level, it is not possible, underlined the winner in Foix last year. I won’t win a stage every year, but I’m capable of winning another, that’s for sure. »