With the puncture of his teammate Daryl Impey and a fall of another cyclist one kilometer from the finish line, Guillaume Boivin (Israel – Premier Tech) found himself at the front of the leading peloton during the final sprint. of the fifth stage of the Tour of Catalonia. The Quebecer took the lead for a while before seeing three cyclists ahead of him. He finally finished fourth on Friday at Vilanova i la Geltrú.
“I’m really happy, surprised, but happy! We wanted to do the sprint for Daryl Impey, but he had a puncture 20 kilometers from the finish. I had the mandate to do the sprint. I can’t remember the last time I did a mass sprint like that. It must have been more than 10 years,” Boivin said from the outset, clearly happy with his performance.
“I took a chance, but the line was 50 yards too far, otherwise I think I had it (the win). It was fun to be up front. I really tried to win. I may have left too quickly, but I’m happy to have had this experience,” added the Canadian champion’s jersey holder.
Guillaume Boivin was only overtaken at the finish by Briton Ethan Vernon (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) who saved himself with victory ahead of German Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain – Victorious) and Frenchman Dorian Godon (AG2R Citroen).
106 cyclists finished in the group of leaders and the Dane Mads Würtz Schmidt (101st) is the only teammate of Boivin who was part of it. Ontarian Michael Woods finished 136th (+4 minutes 48 seconds).
Portuguese Joao Almeida (UAE Emirates) overtook Colombian Nairo Quintana (Arkéa Samsic) in the provisional general classification to strip him of the leader’s jersey by just one second. The rest of the top-20 remains unchanged.
With two stages to go in the Tour of Catalonia, Guillaume Boivin is aware of the challenge awaiting his team. However, he hopes to be able to cause other surprises by the end of the event.
“The legs have been good since the start of the week. There are still two big difficult stages with probably a little rain. We will try to be part of the breakaways. For Sunday it will be extremely difficult, but you never know what can happen,” he concluded.
Hugo Houle 44th in Belgium
For his part, Hugo Houle (Israel – Premier Tech) was in Belgium for the presentation of the 64th E3 Saxo Bank Classic. The Quebecer finished in 44th place, six minutes behind the leaders, along with his Belgian teammate Jenthe Biermans (38th).
The event was won by the Belgian Wout Van Aert of Jumbo-Visma. He won in the sprint ahead of his French teammate Christophe Laporte. The Swiss Stefan Küng (Groupama – FDJ) finished 3rd, 1 minute 35 seconds behind the winner.
Hugo Houle will remain in Belgium until Sunday when he will participate in Grand-Wevelgem.
