As Hugo Houle crossed the line in Foix on July 19, he pointed to the sky. He had accomplished a goal he had had for close to 10 years: win a Tour de France stage for his brother, Pierrik, who died after being struck by a vehicle while he was out for a jog. In this episode, find out what went into that victory, the decisions made out on the road and how a rider can be transformed. Featuring Houle himself, Michael Woods (https://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/news/michael-woods-hugo-houle-tragic-losses-career-defining-victories/) , Steve Bauer and Antoine Duchesne (https://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/news/antoine-duchesne-and-hugo-houle-the-odd-couple-of-canadian-cycling/) .
And then I only knew when I crossed the line the guy from the from the podium say oh we can see this the big smile on on his compatriot and I’m like no I’m just smiling because I finished the damn day and I’m happy about it and then I I
See e per has been working a lot with the Grand Prix and he’s like why he’s almost crying he’s like you go one I’m like what you go one and then and then there was vlar and prom on the side of the on the side of the podium and he
Like come in come in and so I had the I I managed they brought me through behind the podium and I managed to see to see you go and it was a yeah it was a crazy crazy moment welcome to the Canadian cycling magazine podcast I’m Matthew poro and
Joining me is Matt Hansen how’s it going Matt real super thanks for asking is that a South Park reference no I just it’s a me reference it’s call back I say this all the time I know you say it all the time but I feel like it’s a it’s a
From a song in a in a South Park movie episode most of the things I say are derived from other people so probably all right well we cite our sources here sometimes when we can remember the leadin for this episode that listeners just heard was antoan Duan now the focus
Of this episode is Yugo ul and his historic tour to France win but I had to lead with Antoine because he is such a great talker he’s in he’s in this episode a bit and what you heard there was the um I’m not going to say censored version
But the version without some cuss wordss you’re going to hear the cuss wordss in this episode bit of a potty mouth bit of a potty mouth he has he uses his colorful metaphors but this the focus of this episode it’s a story I’ve been really excited to tell it is the story
Of Hugo O’s tour to France WI win this past Summer but before we get into that Matt how are you doing like I said I’m real super all right we covered that you’re super there’s nothing to add to that I’m riding inside you know loving the winter loving riding zift it’s is so great yeah I’m always I’m always careful or
Hesitant to complain about winter here in Southern Ontario because Nation the rest of the nation you get more winter than we do usually but um Winter’s a bit early here in uh in Toronto eh well I mean two weeks ago it was 25 degrees and now it’s snow so who knows yeah yeah
Most of us are full zift mode but um you know what I need to check the weather out west in Victoria for this weekend Big Bike Race Big Bike Race cyc cross Nationals I’m excited to see that it’s been a long time that cyclecross Nationals has been
Getting punked by the pandemic a lot yeah it’s great to see it back after 2019 was the last time so it’s uh I think everyone it sounds like everyone’s pretty excited to get back there and you know finally have the cross Nets yeah you’ve spoken or been in touch with a
Few Riders who are some of the people you’ve spoken to in in the leadup to cross Nationals well I think there’s two big ones magal goette and Sydney Mill uh they’re not going to be going and it’s it’s it’s pretty straightforward it’s just a travel you know they’re going to
Be in Europe they’re already in Europe Magalia as we know has had a a rough year you know she’s been sick and she’s had a hard time with her Fitness she’s finally getting back on form now but she’s decided to opt out of it and she
Was pretty pretty bummed not to be able to go because as we know we haven’t had it there for two years although I will say those who are lucky enough to have one in 2019 they basically got to keep their Jersey for 700 days which is the only plus side of all these
Cancellations but alas she she’ll be passing that on to someone else because she won’t be there um but you know it makes sense with the travel uh issues that she would she would skip it so but she was pretty bummed yeah it’s really difficult for Canadian Riders who want
That Euro experience and are chasing UCI points and all that stuff because travel has just become a tougher thing to manage uh in the last of course three years however long it’s been yeah and I mean although it’s a amazing location in Victoria and it’s the weather is
Probably going to be great or relatively great better than the rest of Canada it’s still it’s a bit of a hike to go from from or or the east coast to uh to BC our our little country here is uh is bigger than Europe even getting around
Here is a challenge well we have a team assembled for covering cross Nationals uh at the lead of that team is Terry McCall web editor mountain bike expert and actually to call him just our mountain bike editor is a bit of a disservice cuz he is he’s fluent in all
Things Riser bar and and curly bar uh but he will be there so we’ll photographer Nick who’s done a lot of work with us in the past and so please listeners watch our website watch our socials for cyclocross Nationals coverage let’s get in to the story of
Hugo o everyone I think knows his his backstory um the tragic backstory 10 years ago his brother was at peric was out for a jog and was struck and killed What attracted me to this story is is like all good stories it’s about cycling and it’s about more than cycling and um
I really sunk my teeth into this one and I’m really excited to share it with uh well with you Matt I know you haven’t heard the Pod yet no I’m excited to hear this one actually because uh I mean that that vision of him with pointing his
Hand in the sky was uh something else when won but you you you have had previews of a lot of this material because um I’ve been um wrestling it with it for for weeks now so yeah I’m really excited to share it with everyone finally finally thank you without
Further Ado let’s get into the Inside Story a deep dive into Hugo O’s historic tour to France win this past summer something fantastic happened you remember it of course during stage 16 of the tour to France Hugo o a rider from St per to Quebec escaped from the Breakaway he was about
39 km from the finish in foa and had the mural de pegu in front of him could OU take the win well if you’re listening to this podcast I’m pretty sure you know what happened you watched the stage on July 19th maybe on the sly at work or
That evening after spending the day trying to avoid spoilers you were tense as as OU got closer and closer to the Finish then Hugo o won a stage of the tour to France his win was historic only one other Canadian has taken a tour stage that was Steve Bower in 1988 but the
Victory was not only a big deal in say the regular way if there is anything regular about such a rarified feat the win for o had a deep personal significance one of the first things he said after crossing the line was this one is for my
Brother in this episode I speak not only with o but Steve Bower his director sportif on Israel Premier Tech and O’s teammate Michael Woods who was instrumental in the stage win also antoan duen provides some insights he was at the tour as part of groupama fdj squad he’s a good friend of
As well as his former roommate before I delve into the victory there’s the tragedy which happened in December 2012 UL had just returned to his family home in Quebec from a training camp in Spain with his new team aidel L monal he had a chat with his younger brother
Peric I was a with Ed in the training camp and then when I come back just before Christmas left or the December Camp I come back home and I sat down with my brother a little bit just to share what I uh what I experienced uh
With my first uh training camp with the professional team in Europe and then uh we had a talk and then he went for a run and never came back he got he got hit by a a driver from the back in the SP village where we live and uh that just
Just die on the on the under the empa and that was it everything went pretty fast forward from there and uh it was a big uh Big Challenge for me and also for my family to overcome this this kind of I would say shock who last for quite
Long and uh yeah step by step you you uh you you kind of start to start to live again with it and uh now now I’m Comfort I feel okay with it comfortable but I always always think about him and uh he have a kind of I
Made the goal to try to win a stage in the tour for him and now I did so that was that bring me even more emotion when I won the stage and I think it would never be something will come close to this whatever I win again in my life from the
Emotion side of of it and that’s part of my my story now and um the reason I talk about it is when when it happened it’s really hard moment but uh what I can say is with time you can overcome it and and life still still go on and you can enjoy
But on the moment it’s all always uh quite painful that pain followed o to France where he set up for the 2013 season that was a tough year he was mostly alone in a new country doing his best to train and race at Road cycling’s highest level
The next year he and antoan duen moved into a duplex in St restitute France the friends made for a bit of an Odd Couple o was the highly disciplined one after all he did take long enforcement studies at Sea and could have gone on to Quebec’s Police Academy duen was the
More easygoing runon Instinct one they complimented Each Other Well I asked Duan about O’s goal to win a tour def France stage to me I thought it was a totally Noble goal but was it realistic was it something a domestique like o could shoot for he had ridden in
Service of Roman Bard and Oliver n when he was on a doel la monel and later yakob Fang and Miguel Angel Lopez at a standup at two Olympic Games and multiple World Championships o looked out for Michael Woods sure o knew the tour well he’d ridden it every year
Since 2019 but before July 19th O’s notable wins were two national time trial championships in 2015 and 2021 and gold at the 2015 PanAm games time trial so a tour to France stage was that really in the cards for him duen saw it was a real possibility the way he’ve been he’s been
Racing the last two years he’s been up there to win a stage you need to be really strong but you don’t need like in a grand tour there’s there’s always going to be opportunity especially in second and third weeks and if you’re that level that can actually fight for
Those break and because at the end it’s the same 20 25 guys in the last like 10 stages that are actually able to go fight for it like outside of the GC guys so if you’re able to have that level then in between those 20 guys everyone
Can win it like by how the race is going to go and for that the last year two years has been showing that he was part of these guys so it was yeah complet believed in it and but I told him like during that tour remember on the first
Week after maybe I don’t know his first breakway or something like that I’m like now don’t don’t be an idiot trying to go in like the Breakaway in the stage of the granon the too hardest stage in the Alps it’s like the GC gonna try to go
Like don’t screw yourself it’s going to be really hard race so especially how good you’re climbing if you take the gretto is going to be super easy for you take those those two days super easy and then there’s this stage this stage this stage it’s going to go all the way and
You can win those one and the day we get out of the alss he finished third so like and he really did it well we finished together I think those two uh those two days in the Alps and for me it was a for me I was doing really great
And for him he was just sitting on but yeah it was so he really did it then he saved himself in the right moment and he he was there when he was the and when when it was time to to kill throughout the 2022 season Michael Woods saw firsthand just how well his
Teammate was performing I think just this year in general indicated that he was ready to make a big jump to finishing 13th that uh pinise particularly was in really a great indicator particularly because he was the last guy on our team only guy on our team to finish uh so no support in
Running that then I raced with him for the first time this season at PA Vas the B toward the Bas country and there he was just flying he finished fourth to some really strong guys Julian alip won um but he was right there in the mix and
He’d been helping me all day that day too even at the our team Camp he he won the time trial at our team Camp you could see he’s he was more confident than ever Hugo H Steve Bower who was the lead director sportif during stage 16
Has worked with hul for years early in oo’s career he had a spot on spidertech powered by C 10 which was led by bow in 2021 the two were on a standup and they both came over to Israel premere tech for this past season bow also noticed O’s top fitness and increased confidence
Out on the road throughout the tour he was confident that he had the shape and we I think we all gave him that confidence that he was in form you could see it he had that to he had that race picked out in in in the Pyrenees there
Was there was one race that kind of suited like a a breakaway a certain you know chance and a breakaway and he he said that you know you could had an inkling that I he’s going to go all in that day right and it was also part of
The plan to have woodsy and him Michael Woods and and and Hugo as priority in that Breakaway that day you know so it was it was he was honed in for it you know he he was ready to go and so I think that that that Focus all the
Preparedness all the experience of years and years they they come down to kind of like a a fine pointed Edge right and that was that day for Hugo stage 16 was right after the second rest day of The Grand Tour before that there were three lumpy stages that led
Riders Eastward away from the Alps as duchan mentioned W was third on one of those days on stage 13 He Got Away with mads Pon and Fred Wright with Pon taking the three-up Sprint to to the line stage 16 marked the tour’s first day in the Pyrenees duain who was protecting his
Teammate David godo remembered how the day started well that stage went actually kind of weird because we were actually a lot everyone would expect was expecting cross win at the start and there was no way to get any cross win actually but the start was super nervous the neural start like everybody was
Fighting everybody was completely stressed out to be well placed and he ended up there was just a split and 20 guys got away by just well nobody actually really there was nothing happening there’s 20 guys that got away and the road was blocked behind I think
I saw Yugo jumping across as one of the last guy like just not being on the right on the first move and he saw it and he just went Again by himself and he bridged back alone the big breakway actually contained 27 Riders the group
Was set after about 7 km of racing it mostly held together until the second last climb of the day which was the 11.4 km PT Deo that had an average grade of 7% Damiano Caruso attacked Woods followed because he wasn’t going to let a rider who was second at the 2021 Jalia
Getaway Woods crested The Climb with six other Riders o how ever wasn’t there but we all kind of were just looking at each other and no one was super keen on taking up the the pace and pushing really hard so we rode a relatively conservative descent but um I think it
Speaks volumes to the resilience of Hugo he didn’t give up because I I’ve been in that situation before and I know a lot of other Riders have been in this situation before where they’ve been dropped seems like the race is over and it’s so easy just like okay I’m going to
Sit up now my day is done my work’s done I’m going to wait for the pelaton to get in I’ll just cruise into finish cuz I’ve got you know five more days of racing still but Hugo didn’t he kept on pushing managed to Crest The Climb not that far
Behind and then also send The Descent like go super fast he Hugo is an exceptional bike racer there’s a reason why um there’s like I don’t want to jinx him but Hugo rarely has a crash he’s got a really good six sense he’s got great bike handling skills and uh his
Descending abilities are quite strong as well so he he ripped The Descent caught back onto us and that was where actually he was able to distance himself um we moved to the front and he took a couple corners fast and I just decided I was
Going to let him go let him slip away because I thought that we’d be at an advantage if I did that and sure enough we were it was not planned to do like this it’s just the way it came I got a bit dropped in the first of the two
Climb maybe 15 20 second on the top and I was able to come back and Don and drop everyone then when I come back I just might make it a gap they let me go away with 10 seconds and then I just attack
As hard as I could uh to set a table for Mike cuz as as I was droing the first line I say okay I better keep the pressure on and I go full and Mike can sit in the wheel and we have easier time so if Mike would not have been there I
Think I I would never attack like this when Hugo went you could feel the lethargy in the group like the complacency in the group like guys were just fatigued and and didn’t necessarily want to follow things they would want to have to up a Chase and so I really felt
Like that was a good moment to go and so did Hugo uh when he went and the minute I saw that no one was taking up the chase I just jumped on the radio and said go go go go go once o got away from
The group he had to face the mural de pigu by himself it’s a 9.3 km climb with ramps with more than 15% grades that come toward the end o had to manage his effort but still ride hard enough to stay ahead of the group when I attacked
I went hard but you know hard thinking what was coming up so I did the first part of the climb where it was not super steep I tried to stay always around 400 watts and then when I hit the Steep part then I was just like I was I was also
Surprised myself like the first part of the clim was maybe I don’t remember how many k it was maybe five or six whatever but it was more rolling and that time I could keep the Gap you know I was surprised at the beginning when I started the clim had one minute and then
The probably 4K H I was still like 55 seconds 45 seconds it was not really going down so I understood I was like able of staying away then I focused on the last 2K of the clim where was really really Steep and then there I just went
As hard as I could uh also thinking I had to go to the top and uh let’s say the last 500 meter I was starting to be cold because it was really heat so I was really really on the limit of what I couldn’t all and uh when I pass the top
Of the climb with 30 seconds I know I could do it I have seen the video of the race that they passed there like a few years ago to the night before uh we checked the video with Chris room who was at the time I think Chasing Yellow
Jersey so I know the climb the downhill was super fast and I would need to Pedal all the way down so okay uh I know that in this kind of Donal I could I could hold to the the group behind because it’s super fast and I’m also have some
Good skill on the flat after o crested the Mir de pigale there was a danger that lurked on The Descent Steve Bower knew about it because he had scouted the stage in advance for the record he also knew it would be a hard chaotic start and that the Breakaway
Would form early the former Star Rider is a sharp director too if you remember the stage you’ll know that Mato Jorgenson either didn’t know about this hairy section or was simply L pushing too hard as he tried to catch o Woods was adding pressure onto Jorgenson as
The Canuck followed the US Rider closely here’s what Bower knew from his stage reconnaissance it was a tight blind turn he came very quickly down a straightaway and then into this it almost seemed like a little village a couple houses and uh it was very blind tight and blind and um
It was the only one that was really like that in the whole descent um so it was a bit it was a bit odd it was the one most most dangerous corner of The Descent that I that I pointed out to the guys in
The meeting and um when I was in the car like I reminded Hugo that of the danger of that turn and also that Mike Woods um as they approached that that sharp blind Bandon that’s the one that Jorgenson crashed on Woods learned about the dangers of the pyrenean descents the
Hard way so he was able to play things just right yeah I I crashed on uh on a descent quite similar to the one that we were on in 2021 they’re just often at this time of year quite greasy a bit of gravel just because it’s quite a bit
Drier in the Pyrenees in general yeah there’s often just loose gravel you saw it even on the the crash that POG jar had a few days later they’re also far less predictable they don’t follow the same type of pattern that they do in the Alps in the French Alps at least not the
Italian but the French elves you have descents that are uh pretty consistent you often aren’t going to be surprised by Corners whereas the Pyrenees they are a bit more of the Italian style descent where they just don’t follow Rhyme or Rhythm you can be coming around one
Corner that seems fine and then all of a sudden it’s a a diminishing uh radius corner and it really catches you off guard that’s why when I was following Jorgenson on the way down on this stage I knew he was really pushing the limits
Of his ability and I knew the the sent I I knew knew The Descent could catch us off guard and so I just gave him a bit of a gap just to make sure and it it was a smart move to make in the end after Jorgenson’s crash things looked really
Good for o and woods two Canadians one and two on the road Michael store and Valentine Matas both teammates of duan’s were a minute 27 behind o Woods had to decide if he should power on in attempt to join his teammate the two could work together but the race Savvy Woods had
Other factors to weigh I knew that I was I I had a shot at just bridging across to him but my big concern actually was what would happen if I came across to Hugo and we started putting Vehicles between ourselves and Jorgenson it’s something that less thought of but the
Way the Finish worked with that long 20K false flat descent if we had you know 45 seconds to a minute on Jorgenson uh you start putting vehicles between there and if he takes a couple turns a lot faster then although let’s say we have 45 seconds on their vehicles between him
And us he’s actually only 25 seconds behind the vehicles and then the vehicles start making a bit of a a wake from their in the wind with the with the air start making the air a bit easier to follow and then it’s quite easy to come
Back good example of that was your orans in crashing and him easily getting back on to me just uh all it takes is two or three vehicles between the two of you and maybe have 10 seconds on the guy you’re actually he’s actually going to
Get back on you no problem and if Hugo just managed to stay away he’d stay away but I think it felt like the biggest threat to us losing was me actually uh jumping across and then having uh Mato get that bit of a suck on the way
Across now just to be clear Woods isn’t suggesting that Jorgenson would have been sitting right behind vehicles to get a massive draft the way Riders do with Team cars often when they are trying to chase back onto the pelaton after crash no the effect Woods is describing is a bit more subtle the
Vehicles that are allowed between Riders when there’s a big enough Gap can still prime or make the air a little easier for Riders behind to pass through even if they are at a distance this primed air is what Woods was concerned about the racing continued yet Bower whose
Judgment on the stage almost seems clairvoyant had a sense of the final outcome possibly much sooner than the Riders from the time that the time Gap he held on to a very solid time gap on the steepest part of the that final climb and Mike Woods and jurgenson were
Were the last two surviving Chasers that I really I really felt he had a chance and and he and at that point I I re iterated several times that he was going for the win to encourage him that you know it was him and and the rest now was
Just him that he could if he if he had it in him he would win the race and then the it really solidified the victory when uh Jorgenson crashed because there’s always a chance that in the final 15 kilometers um that something could happen you know um it’s never over
Till it’s over uh so when Jorgenson crashed it really provided a a buffer of you know success and even in the last 5 kilometers I was telling hug go to relax and nobody was coming back but as the athlete you never want to believe it’s it’s over so he kept pushing I think
Until the final kilometer where he really realized then he finally had it at about 2 kilm to go for o Woods was giving the TV Camera his signature thumbs up he knew too knew that his teammate had it for o well B called it the athlete was cautious maybe with two
3K to go but 2K before was always 30 seconds 36 seconds and also like the the the way I get the Gap from the car the communication is always a delay so at the moment I saw the board I think with 3K to go was one minute on the board and
I said okay I just got this I’m going to win and from there I start to enjoy a little bit more but I was still full gas I say if something happened I need time then o began to think of his brother peric in the closing meters it seemed as
If he was trying to pull something out from under his jersey o isn’t particularly religious but he does race with a cross around his neck not long after perk’s death Louie garno that’s the former Elite cyclist and head of the Quebec cycling equipment company got a small cross blessed and he presented it
To Hugo it it was for luck and protection in races it became a part of Yo’s Race Kit and it always reminded him of his brother and the last 500 meter I would say I was really thinking about him or the last game maybe yeah the last part
Is really where I I start to realize and I was quite emotional uh just so happy I could I could do that and I was still struggled to believe what I just did one of the first people o hugged after the win was John Adams an Israel Premier
Tech swier who had also worked on spider tech he knew O’s story well then Woods who finished third on the stage came screaming up and almost started hugging o before coming to a complete stop the news got to ‘s friend duain about 20 minutes later before you hear this next
Clip a warning you’re about to hear some cussing you can skip ahead 90 seconds but I I don’t think you should you’ll miss duan’s infectious enthusiasm and then I only knew when I crossed the line the guy from the from the podium say oh we can see this the
Big smile on on his compatriot and I’m like no I’m just smiling because I finished the damn day and I’m happy about it and then I I see e per that’s been working a lot with the grand PRI and he’s like why he’s almost crying
He’s like you go one I’m like what you one what the and then and then there was vlar and prom on the side of the on the side of the podium and he like come in come in and so I had the I I managed they brought me through behind
The podium and I managed to see to see you go and it was a yeah it was a crazy crazy moment when he gets out of the van and he see me so we’re hugging and I’m just man you want it you want a tour and I’m
Almost crying and I’m just you want you did it you did it and I see his cross and I’m like you know how for like why you did it and then him as usual like starting he starts talking to me about how the race went and what he did and
Like super again formal I’m like I don’t give a what you did how it happened just man you won the goddamn stage and I me I was like yeah it was uh yeah it was really nice to be able to uh to to be
Part of it and see be see him after the line it was a very beautiful moment uh I cried when first when G came on the bus after and told me like he dedicated to his brother and that that kind of I started crying and then again when we
Were sitting around at the table uh we uh Hugo was telling the story of his brother again especially to guys who are less familiar with the story like the on the team aside from G and I uh none of the guys really knew about his brother passing he recounted the story and I
Think uh there weren’t many driv my eyes at the dinner table there was a lot of uh media a lot of people I know also that day cost me a new iPhone because the battery just just kind of burned out uh my phone was closed and it was still burning when I
Touch it like if you leave it in the sound and um yeah so I I killed my battery that day I think I had around 2,000 messages uh if I put all the different app together and um it was quite special I think at the moment I
Didn’t know understood uh the impact of this in North America especially Quebec and Canada and also when I went to the C this year I could see the people they really recognize uh this performance there was an outpouring of Joy within the team and beyond for o usually a
Reserved person there was his own outpouring of emotions it was understandable after 10 years he had finally transformed a family tragedy into something else I I asked Woods about carrying loss into competition in 2018 roughly 2 months before that Year’s WTA hispania Michael Woods’s wife Ellie
Gave birth to a stillborn baby boy who the couple named hunter in their grief the two vowed to honor the baby they had lost by truly living their lives to their fullest Woods noted a change in his racing the public s on stage 17 of the 2018 WTA where Woods won his first
Grand Tour stage afterward he revealed he’d been Racing for Hunter I asked Woods if the victory changed his relationship with the tragedy um that’s a good question I don’t know if it changed my relationship with the tragedy but it it certainly well to me is certainly just a massive moment of
Catharsis particularly because for two months prior to his death I hadn’t really talked about it aside from with my family and close friends but also I obviously cried and and and had a really tough time in the week after uh his death uh but instead of really
Focusing on my grief I I focused a lot on the training that I needed to do that I I felt like I needed to do to honor what I what my wife and I said we’d set out to do which was do things to their their best their F also in in him
Passing like I I didn’t know what else to do in terms of just trying to make feel people feel better including my wife my family I wanted to do something that you know obviously I couldn’t bring them back but just make everyone feel a
Bit better and so I saw that as you know winning a big race and honoring him was being a way of doing that when I was actually able to achieve that goal and get the victory it was uh a massive unleashing of emotions and to this day
When I think back on that stage it’s easy to to get a B for me when I spoke with o for this episode he was at his place in Monaco it was September after the Quebec Grand Prix races in those events ‘s stunning 2022 form was gone he
Needed to rest and reset for the next year the effects of the win in July were still with him and also things were different why it’s uh I mean it’s it brings back a lot of emotion I mean yeah now I have to set the new goals for the
Future to stay to keep the same motivation and and um you know every day I would go try out and and and push hard or that would think about it so now now I have to find a new way to to stay motivated uh that just brings so much
Happiness as much as it hurt when he he leave us then then that moment just become even more intense and more crazy like if I just win a stage in the tour it’s one thing you’re quite happy but it’s bring another emotion on top of it
And that that’s what made that day so special I should leave things there but I have to add one more story from o it shows a little more of the Poetry of his WI the way he took the stage is probably just the way his brother perck would
Have wanted him to yeah when I was younger I looked to the Friends also with him and we always appreciate like you know those big breakaways who strong guys remain away from the bunch and and that’s that’s what make cycling race interesting in The Grand Tour where the
GC guy they look a little bit more at each other but the other guy tried to get the stage and I always have always enjoy watching those stage with my brother when we were younger so that I did did basically that goes uh goes in
The break and go solo for so long and uh and it works and that’s the episode it’s written and edited by me Matthew Pio I had help from Matt Hansen thank you Matt you’re welcome I also had help from Terry McCall this episode is produced by Adam kilick also thanks to Ontario
Creates for its support well Matt usually usually we’re we get a bit silly here in the outro but um as you just heard that was that’s a we ended on a pretty powerful note eh yeah that was uh that was a pretty deep story and I think
It’s uh I don’t have any jokes now yeah no neither do I like I I really appreciated uh Michael woods’ insights there he like not only does he have great insights into racing as he as he always does when we’ve chatted with him but um yeah to to Del to mind that
Emotional territory again um both him and and Hugo going back to their their life’s tragedies and and mulling them over and analyzing them I really appreciated them uh yeah sharing that with with us yeah I think it goes back to the thing you said about stories that
Are bigger than cycling you know and that’s uh they both pretty much hit those in the head y well then let’s sign off and uh when I say everyone ride safe I I really mean it ride safe thanks for listening and we’ll talk to you Later