Hugo Houle on his role at the 2015 Giro d’Italia
On Wednesday, Hugo Houle arrived at the hotel near San Remo, three days ahead of his first Grand Tour. The rider from Sainte-Perpétue, Que., revealed in late March that he’d be on Ag2r-La Mondiale’s nine-man squad for the 2015 Giro d’Italia. “For sure it’s a huge step for me. I’m really happy to be here and to have a shot at my first Grand Tour,” he said. The 24-year-old rider mentioned that it’s a good time in his career to be attempting a three-week stage race. Since 2013, Houle has been a part of the French WorldTour team’s Spring Classics squads gaining experience on the roads of Europe. Stage 1 of this year’s Giro finishes in San Remo, which is the finish city of the Monument that Houle has raced two times.
As with this year’s Classics, Houle will be working for the team leader. “My role, for sure, is to be there for Domenico Pozzovivo. He’s our GC guy. He’s able to come in top-five, even on the podium. So a focus on him will be a huge part of my job at the Giro,” Houle said.
His work starts right from Day 1. “On the team time trial, I want to help the team have a good time and make sure they don’t lose a minute like at Tour of Romandie,” he said of the team’s last-place performance at the Swiss stage race’s TTT. (He was not on that squad.) At the national TT championships in 2014, Houle was second to Svein Tuft. Earlier this year, he was third at the TT stage of Tour de San Luis.
After that first day, Houle doesn’t have any specific stages he’s targeted. But, he does hope to be active in the race. “If everything goes well, I would like to go on the attack on a stage and try to do something from a breakaway,” he said. Still, the overall goal is to get to Milan and complete the Grand Tour successfully.
After, Houle will head back to Quebec for a bit of break. He’s been away for seven months. Other races he has lined up in 2015 include nationals, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal and the world championship team time trial in Richmond, Va.
