Tour of France | Hugo Houle in the breakaway, Michal Kwiatkowski above

Hugo Houle (Israel–Premier Tech) a flairé le bon coup pour faire partie de l’échappée du jour formée de 20 coureurs, mais un seul membre a résisté au travail de la formation UAE Emirates qui a préparé la fin d’étape pour son leader Tadej Pogacar, vendredi, à la 13^e étape du Tour de France.

Sur un parcours de 138 kilomètres entre Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne et le col du Colombier, le Québécois a été repris par le groupe des favoris à un peu moins de 6 kilomètres du sommet, une impitoyable ascension ponctuée de nombreux lacets où les spectateurs étaient agités tout au long des 17,4 kilomètres à une pente moyenne de 7,1 %.

« Une belle échappée avec 20 coureurs costauds et je savais que c’était un beau groupe et qu’il y avait peut-être un coup à tenter. Une fois partis, les UAE nous ont gardés en point de mire avec 1 minute 25 et j’ai compris qu’ils voulaient essayer de faire l’étape avec Tadej [Pogacar] and that would be complicated. If they had left us 10 minutes, I could have taken a place of honor for the stage, because today [vendredi]Kwiatkowski [INEOS Grenadiers] was superior to everyone,” said Hugo Houle, adding that he was satisfied with the cooperation of everyone in his breakaway group.

This Kwiatkowski is Michal Kwiatkowski, who was already in orbit to sign the second stage victory of his Tour career at the end of “the most difficult effort of [sa] life” as he explained after the race. The Pole, 2014 world champion, was a cut above all to win this time solo rather than arm in arm as he had done in the 18^e stage of the 2020 edition with his teammate Richard Carapaz.

The leading group including yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogacar was just under 4 minutes behind at the foot of the final ascent.

“I fought until the group of leaders caught me and then I finished the stage a little softer,” added Houle, 32.^e of the day (+5 min 32 s). “I didn’t tear my heart out to do 15^e or 20^e. You had to be in front with riders like that, because you never know. If the UEA weren’t in control, it completely changed the dynamics of the race and there was definitely a podium up for grabs. I’m happy with my day and to have been a player in the race. »

In front, Kwiatkowski quickly widened the gap on his pursuers while the fight for the general classification was in full swing behind.

The formation of Pogacar, Marc Soler in the lead, took advantage of a numerical advantage to do a huge job of undermining, a question of wobbling the yellow jersey which could only count on one teammate, Sepp Kuss.

Former yellow jersey Adam Yates (UAE Emirates) launched the first direct 2 kilometers from the line and Pogacar followed up with a second, a violent acceleration to shake the Dane who took off the wheel of the Slovenian thirty seconds later. late. Pogacar scored a double blow by beating Vingegaard by 4 seconds on the finish line, in addition to grabbing 4 more as a bonus for his third place. At the end of the day on Friday, Vingegaard’s lead over Pogacar in the general standings fell from 17 to 9 seconds.

Houle’s teammate Guillaume Boivin (+23:24) finished in 104^e place.

The Israel-Premier Tech will not stop playing breakaways promised Hugo Houle, winner of the 16^e stage of the Tour last year.

“As soon as it leaves, we have someone [dans le coup], so we are still in a positive spiral. Everyone [dans l’équipe] participate and play the game. Sometimes runners save their energy and don’t play the game, you just find yourself with two runners to chase the blows and you are quickly in the red. This is our strength. Not all teams are lucky enough to have riders who go over the mountains like us. »

The rest on Saturday, on the 152 kilometer mountainous route between Annemasse and the resort of Morzine les Portes du Soleil.