Classy determination is Hugo Houle as he was the lone IPT rider to finish in Nice. He was 6'34" down on stage winner Simon Yates and finished 13th on the GC. He equaled his best GC result at a WorldTour race (2021 Tirreno-Adriatico). What a ride!
"I don't think I could have done anything better this week. I'm really happy with what I did, just being alone, going all the way of saying thank you for keeping all of the staff there with me, giving me the best conditions possible to keep the motivation and keep fighting all day, even though it was really hard. So a big thank you to the team for supporting me the whole week.
It was a tough stage. Of course, there was a lot of rain at the beginning and then after it dried up, but the downhill was still wet. I felt good. I stayed in the front group for a long time and then on the descent of the second climb, there was a crash and that caused a gap in the bunch.
Then we had to chase back which put me in the red and I struggled to stay in the front in the downhill. So I made a few mistakes there. But, in the end, I kept my own tempo and kept fighting all the way to the end. I had a great group after the last climb all the way down into Nice so I could keep pushing to keep my place on GC."
-Hugo Houle. Only 59 finishers, the fewest riders on the final GC since 1985, made it to Nice.
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