Hugo Houle earns career-high fourth place in a WorldTour race at Itzulia Basque Country

Canadian Hugo Houle sprinted to fourth place in Tuesday’s second stage of the Itzulia Basque Country, his best-ever WorldTour result and highest race finish since fourth in Stage 4 of the 2018 Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine. Houle remains the top Canadian on GC out of five at 37th. World champion Julian Alaphilippe powered to his first victory of 2022. Primož Roglič kept the leader’s jersey.

The Course

Three categorized climbs stretched across the 207.6-km route from Leitza and Viana, starting with one immediately from the start. The final ascent, a Cat. 3, peaked 30 km from Viana, with a few ripples in between. There was a rise to the line.

Stage 2 of #Itzulia is the longest of the entire week: 207.9 kilometers from Leitza to Viana over a rolling parcours. pic.twitter.com/ndfnEiuuxX

— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) April 5, 2022

Four fugitives, one from each Spanish wildcard team, escaped on the opening climb. Ibon Ruiz of Equipo Kern Pharma was first to the top of Cat. 3 Uitzi and Cat. 2 Lizarraga and would relieve Remco Evenepoel of the polka-dot jersey. First Roglič’s Jumbo-Visma chased and then Evenepoel’s Quick Step pursued the quartet. Moves from the peloton on the last half of the last categorized climb yanked the breakaway closer.

With 20 km remaining, the gap was still 2:00. With 14 km to ride, there was discord in the breakaway, even though it seemed poised to win the day. Ruiz bolted on the others. Back in the peloton, riders started to attack. With 6 km to go, the gap was under a minute.

It would be a surge from Evenepoel that would spell doom for Ruiz, caught with 400 metres to the line. Evenepoel carried on to lead out the world champion, who did not miss.

There are more hills on tap for Wednesday.

2022 Itzulia Basque Country Stage 2
1) Julian Alaphilippe (France/Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) 5:04:35
2) Fabian Doubey (France/TotalEnergies) s.t.
3) Quinten Hermans (Belgium/Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) s.t.
4) Hugo Houle (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
15) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
46) Alex Cataford (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
88) James Piccoli (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
124) Antoine Duchesne (Canada/Groupama-FDJ) s.t.

2022 Itzulia Basque Country
1) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) 5:14:23
2) Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) +0:05
3) Rémy Cavagna (France/Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) +0:16
37) Hugo Houle (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:38
86) Antoine Duchesne (Canada/Groupama-FDJ) +0:56
92) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +1:01
108) Alex Cataford (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +1:07
111) James Piccoli (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +1:10