Let his palmares show that Hugo Houle‘s first professional victory came on Stage 16, Tour de France 2022. In a day for the tactical deployment of teammates, the Israel-PremierTech Canadian flew solo from the break of the day with 40km to go, dug deep on Mur de Peguere and kept his cool on the testing descent to come across the line with a salute to the brother he lost to a hit-and-run incident ten years ago. Behind him, Valentin Maduous (Groupama- FDJ) pipped Houle’s teammate and fellow Canadian, Michael Woods. Behind THEM the GC podium remains unchanged due to Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) repelling all of Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) attacks. Underneath the podium, it’s all shaken and stirred with Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) moving up to fourth and Romain Bardet (Team DSM) dropping from fourth to ninth. Continue reading →