Canadian triumph in the Pyrenees! Pogačar’s loss to the yellow jersey has not diminished

“I’ve never won anything big. Until today’s stage was the right moment. I went full throttle, even though I suffered terribly on the steep climb. I knew that I should have won by 30 to 40 seconds at the top of the last hill . In the end it was only twenty seconds, but in the technical passages during the descent I was able to gain some seconds,” Houle breathed with an exhausted smile at the finish line.

At the same time, the thirty-one-year-old native of Quebec was worried about the triumph until the very end. “I was afraid of convulsions because there was no assistance car available for the last twenty kilometers and I had no more food,” he recounted.

Canada had to wait 34 long years for a stage laurel from the Tour de France since the triumph of Steve Bauer, who in 1988 dominated the opening stage at the Old Lady and even wore the yellow jersey in five stages. And coincidentally, he currently manages Houla in the Israel-Premier Tech team from the position of sports director.

The yellow jersey for the leader of the current Tour will also be worn on Wednesday by the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, who maintained an overall lead of 2:22 minutes ahead of the winner of the previous two years, Tadej Pogačar. The Slovenian competitor tried to start several times on Tuesday, but was unable to break away from the leader.

Home favorite Romain Bardet experienced a crisis day after a free Monday. The French mountaineer did not keep up with the best, he lost more than three and a half minutes to them and dropped from fourth place to ninth place. Colombian Nairo Quintana is in fourth place, former winner Geraint Thomas from Great Britain is third, 2:43 behind Vingegaard.

Pogačar’s attack can come as soon as tomorrow, when the peloton faces three first category climbs in the less than 130 km from Saint-Gaudens to Peyragudes. And Thursday’s section from Lourdes to the Hautacam ski resort gives the chance to escape in the hills, when the peloton will face one climb of the first category and two HC premiums. “Tomorrow and the day after I will attack again and I hope to gain some time. I will never give up, it will be interesting,” promised Pogačar, who lost the yellow jersey during a weaker day last Wednesday.