On Friday Israel-Premier Tech finally dropped its start list for Saturday’s 115th Milan-San Remo, and as expected Canadians Hugo Houle and Guillaume Boivin made the squad. This La Classicissima di Primavera will be Houle’s 30th Monument. Boivin will be racing his 13th Monument. Canadian legend Steve Bauer will be one of two sports directors.
This is Houle’s sixth Milan-San Remo, his first in 2013 was also his first Monument. His Primavera last year ended with his best result, 65th. Houle has ridden all five Monuments, his career Monument high 44th in the 2020 Tour of Flanders.
This season Houle has raced 12 days. His recent efforts at Paris-Nice resulted in 56th on GC, Israel-Premier Tech’s second-best placing.
Boivin has also ridden all five Monuments; a four-year gap stood between his first in 2013 and his second in 2018. Ninth in the 2021 Paris-Roubaix is his high mark. Boivin hasn’t raced a Milan-San Remo since 2020.
Boivin’s 2024 has seen 20 days of racing so far. In the first stage of Tour des Alpes-Maritimes he was fifth in a reduced bunch sprint.
In a press release Bauer spoke of how the Canadians can support IPT’s protected rider, Kiwi Corbin Strong: “We just need to put him where he needs to be and we’ve got experienced guys like Clarke, Fuglsang, Houle and Boivin to do that. Then it’s up to Corbin to follow them and fight for a top result in the end.”
Six former winners will be on the start line of Milan-San Remo: champion Mathieu van der Poel, Matej Mohorič, Jasper Stuyven, Julian Alaphilippe, Michał Kwiatkowski and Alexander Kristoff.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…