“I’ve never ridden in such extreme heat” – Hugo Hall

Hugo Holley (Israel – Premier Tech) once again showed his talent on Sunday during the 15th stage of the Tour de France by finishing the 202.5km race in 14th place, in the leading group.

• Read also: Hugo Hall’s podium at the Tour de France

It was the heat that captured the attention of the Saint-Perpete athlete and the vast majority of cyclists who took part on Sunday, averaging 36.4 degrees Celsius with a peak of 40 degrees at a certain time during the day. . A temperature Holly had never seen before.

“There were a few attacks at first, but with the heat, I decided to stay in the peloton at the end. The really special thing was that I felt the heat as if I was in an oven, and I had to bring water constantly. I didn’t ride the bike in Such extreme heat.”

“There was a very steep climb in the final, I was able to hold on. I enjoyed running at the end! I knew there were very big names ahead of me, which I liked and had fun with.

800m from the finish line Peloton managed to catch Frenchman Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), who had escaped alone a little earlier. The battle was heated between Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Mads Pedersen (Trek – Segafredo) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deuceninck) for stage victory. Philipsen finally won the first victory of his career at the Tour de France.

Antoine Duchesne (Groupama-FDJ) took 72nd (+36secs) while Guillaume Boivin (Israel – Premier Tech) took 127th (+17min 16secs).

Among his teammates in Quebec, David Gaudu of Groupama-FDJ managed to finish the 15th stage in 21st place, and in the leading group, he remains 8th in the provisional general classification still dominated by Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) . As for Jacob Vogelsang of Israel – Premier Tech, he crashed hard on Sunday with a rib injury, and was still able to finish the stage, but his condition will be re-evaluated daily.

Cyclists will enjoy a well-deserved day off on Monday before the final rock encounter in the Tour de France on Tuesday on stage 16 between Carcassonne and Foix.