‘Today it’s for him’ – Hugo Houle dedicates emotional Stage 16 win to late brother at Tour de France

It was his first as a professional and the 31-year-old pointed to the sky in memory of his brother Pierrik, who was killed when he was hit by a drunk driver while out running. He was 19.

And after the stage, Houle said his main goal as a professional was to win in memory of his brother.

“I had one dream and that was to get the win for my brother, who died when I turned professional,” said Houle after the race.

“Today it’s for him. I worked so hard for 10 years and today I got my win for him. It’s incredible, I don’t know what to say, I’m so happy.”

The win represented Canada’s first stage win at the Tour since Steve Bauer – his sports director at Israel-Premier Tech – in 1998.

Houle made the decisive move just ahead of the final climb of the day, the Mur de Peguere, leaving the last protagonists of the 29-man breakaway in his wake with 38km to go.

And he added after the race that his intention when attacking was not to go for the stage win, but when the opportunity arose, he went full gas.

“I’ve never won a race before so I guess it’s the right place to win my first race,” he added.

“When I attacked it was basically to set the tempo for Michael Woods, and when I saw that they let me go and Mike had left a gap, I just went all in – full gas.

“I hung on and was suffering so badly on the steep climb. But I knew that if I had a gap of 30 or 40 seconds over the top, I could do it. It was tight but I never gave up and gained some time in the technical section.

“I was afraid of getting cramp and I was missing some food.”

Stage 17 represents the first of back-to-back summit finishes in the Pyrenees where two-time Tour winner Pogacar will once again look to make inroads on Jumbo-Visma’s Vingegaard.

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