Hugo Houle sets Grand Tour personal best with seventh on Tour de France’s Stage 12
Sunweb's Swiss buccaneer Marc Hirschi finally takes a win
Photo by:
Sirotti
Canada’s sole representative at the Tour de France is having a fantastic race, not only achieving a Grand Tour personal best of seventh on Thursday’s Stage 12, but also placing in the top-20 six of the twelve stages. He’s up to 56th on GC; his Grand Tour personal best in four starts is 72nd in the 2016 Giro d’Italia.
A very good race and a nice 7th place for @HugoHoule #TDF2020 #AstanaProTeam
? @GettySport pic.twitter.com/AW256d0g6h— Astana Pro Team (@AstanaTeam) September 10, 2020
The remarkable thing about Houle’s six top-20 placings is that they’ve been on road stages, while his previous Grand Tour top-20 finishes have been in team time trials with Astana and AG2R.
It’s not a Canadian Flag but we had a great shot of our lone Canadian rider @HugoHoule during stage 7 of @LeTour
Catching up on cover on @flobikes pic.twitter.com/ynfxm8ICwf
— Canadian Flags at the Tour de France (@CdnFlagsTour) September 10, 2020
You can find out where to watch the 2020 Tour de France here.
Thursday’s 218 km from Chauvigny to Sarran saw no hostilities among the GC riders, as they keep their powder dry for Friday’s skirmish on the summit finish Puy Mary, a volcanic climb in the Massif Central. Instead, the day belonged to Sunweb’s Swiss buccaneer Marc Hirschi, who wasn’t flustered by second place on Stage 2 and third on Stage 9 after his 90-km solo breakaway was caught.
Hirschi got tremendous support from teammates Tiesj Benoot and Søren Kragh Andersen, all three part of late breakaways that formed and then met on the penultimate climb of the day, Cote de la Crouz du Pey. On the last ascent, the Suc au May, Hirschi went solo and stayed away from a Julian Alaphilippe-driven chase to earn his first professional victory.
YES! WE'VE DONE IT!!!??
What a mega effort from @marchirschi to win the stage after an incredible team display in the finale! ??#KeepChallenging #CreatingMemories pic.twitter.com/zYw4WRAtVU
— Team Sunweb (@TeamSunweb) September 10, 2020
Hirschi, the 2018 U23 world champion, has been the revelation of the 2020 Tour de France and has won a lot of fans with his gritty, fearless style. EF Pro Cycling principle Jonathan Vaughters applauded the win.
Normally, I don’t retweet guys not on my team. But this dude deserves some big props. Huge ride. Huge. Chapeau. https://t.co/ntESwaFGj0
— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) September 10, 2020
2020 Tour de France Stage 10
1) Marc Hirschi (Switzerland/Sunweb)
2) Pierre Rolland (France/B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) +0:47
3) Søren Kragh Andersen (Denmark/Sunweb) +0:52
7) Hugo Houle (Canada/Astana) s.t.
2020 Tour de France GC
1) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) 51:40:01
2) Egan Bernal (Colombia/Ineos Grenadiers) +0:21
3) Guillaume Martin (France/Cofidis) +0:28
4) Romain Bardet (France/AG2R-La Mondiale) +0:30
5) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Arkea-Samsic +0:32
6) Rigoberto Uran (Colombia/EF Pro Cycling) s.t.
7) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) +0:44
8) Adam Yates (Great Britain/Mitchelton-Scott) +1:02
9) Angel Lopez (Colombia/Astana) +1:15
10) Mikel Landa (Spain/Bahrain-McLaren) +1:42
56) Hugo Houle (Canada/Astana) +1:13:51
