Hugo Houle does the job in Belgium
CYCLING. The Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team had drawn a blank in the classics season. Remco Evenepoel put an end to this scarcity in the men’s event of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, ignoring his bib number 13 to win the first monument of his career in solo.
A victory which will also bring balm to the terrible fall of his teammate, world champion Julian Alaphilippe, who found himself in a ditch and whose health report had not been published at the time of writing these lines.
The Spaniard Mikel Landa (Bahrain – Victorious) was the main driver of the first serious attacks to come back to the breakaway of the day. With 43 kilometers to go, in the climb of the Côte de Desnier, he cleaned up the group of main favorites by multiplying the attacks and the changes of pace.
It was then that Quebecer Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) did his job to support his teammates Michael Woods and Jakob Fuglsang in the group of favorites who would later battle for second place.
“I had to do my part to keep the race together, because the Bahrain – Victorious formation was very dangerous with several good runners and also Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl and Movistar, who were also aggressive at that time”, analyzed the runner of Sainte-Perpétue, 53rd (+7 minutes 35 seconds) of the day.
“Subsequently, I placed Jakob and Mike on the key climb (the penultimate), the Redoute. I missed a little bit to be able to stay in touch with the group and I was pushed away as I had put in so much effort. I did the work that was asked of me, so I’m happy. And also happy to have stopped the fall.
The crash in the peloton occurred on a straight descent from the Col du Rosier with just under 60 kilometers to go. Twenty runners found themselves on the ground, including two teammates from Quebec who “are fine” according to Houle, without going into details.
The lead of the last survivor of the breakaway of the day, Bruno Armirail (Groupama – FDJ), fell below the one-minute mark in La Redoute when Remco Evenepoel made his decisive attack before the top of the climb, 29 kilometers from the end.
The Belgian quickly got into time trial mode and he caught up with the Frenchman 8 kilometers further. Once in the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons, a little less than 15 kilometers from the line, Evenepoel took down Armirail. The future winner kept his cushion oscillating between 30 and 40 seconds over the chasing group which never really organized the chase, which allowed Jakob Fulglsang and Wout Van Aert to come back after being unhooked.
Alexandr Vlasov (BORA – hansgrohe) started well solo with 8 kilometers to go, but he was caught 2 kilometers from the line. Fuglsang brought in Woods who was slotted on the right side in the final and finished tenth.
Moments later, Houle crossed the finish line in the same group as former world champion Philippe Gilbert (Lotto – Soudal), the last Belgian to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège before Evenepoel, and who was described throughout along the way because he participated in the last Dean of his career.
“In La Roche aux Faucons, everyone chanted his name and thanked him. Hats off to him for having participated 17 times in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and it’s still a hell of a career he has had with all his successes. I still know Philippe quite well, so it was fun to be there,” added Houle, admiringly, who will take a little rest before a preparatory camp in the Canary Islands.
He will return to competition in the Tour de Suisse from June 12.