Hugo Houle Third at Tour de France Stage 13

Canada’s Hugo Houle joined a Tour de France breakaway for the second time in five stages on Friday, and it was the right one, as it stayed away for a showdown in Saint-Etienne where the Israel-Premier Tech rider placed third.

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The Course

After two brutal days in the Alps, Friday’s route brought it all down a notch by switching to the Massif Central. It was hilly, with two Cat. 3 ascents and a Cat. 2 after 75 km.

Some call it a sprinters’ stage, but it’s difficult to imagine a mass gallop with all the #TDF2022 fast men there when you look at this profile between Bourg d’Oisans and Saint-Étienne. pic.twitter.com/8mU3Or52XY

— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) July 15, 2022

After several failed breakaway attempts and the first categorized climb down, a trio got loose. Hugo Houle was part of a quartet that bridged over with 141 km to go. There was real power represented, with Filippo Ganna and Stefan Küng.

Houle has been the top Canadian on nearly every day of the 109th Tour de France so far, and is the top-ranked too, at 43rd overnight, +1:11:38 of Vingegaard.

Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lotto-Soudal did the chasing back in the peloton, keeping Houle and company on a short leash.

With 72 km remaining, the rider that Lotto-Soudal had been working for all day, Caleb Ewan, crashed in a corner. With Ewan trailing the peloton by 2:00, Quick Step joined Alpecin driving the field.

The Houle bunch was still 2:00 ahead of the peloton by the final categorized climb, Côte de Saint-Romain-en-Gal. After losing a rider it pulled out more time, and had an advantage of 3:30 with 42 km remaining. BikeExchange-Jayco made a late bid to pull back the fugitives.

Pedersen, Houle and Wright went clear with 15 km to go. It all came down to those three. Houle was forced to lead out the sprint, and Pedersen went clear, taking the stage. Houle takes the best result of his career, and one of the best results at the Tour for some time.