Tour de France: Hugo Houle dedicates maiden win to brother killed by hit-and-run accident

Sometimes, though not often, sport shows us what is important. It happened in the Ariège at the end of yesterday’s 16th stage of the Tour de France.

Soon after dismounting his bike and falling into the arms of his Israel-Premier Tech team’s support personnel, the day’s winner, Hugo Houle, began to speak of his brother Pierrick who was killed in a hit-and-run accident ten years ago. Houle said he had craved the victory so he could dedicate it to Pierrick’s memory.

Before the stage from Carcassonne to Foix, he had never won a professional race. The Tour de France is not a bad place to start. Houle, 31, got his first contract to race in Europe the same year that his brother died. Lost in