HUGO HOULE

Canada’s Hugo Houle has carved himself out a respectable career in the WorldTour, first with Ag2r and now with Astana. But the biggest challenges have not been those Houle has faced on the bike

Writer Nicola Busca

Portraits Michiel van der Meer

In the fall of 2012, the wheels were spinning freely for Canadian Hugo Houle. He had just earned his first pro contract with the WorldTour team Ag2r La Mondiale, and his promising talent was blooming. However, his life was about to change forever.

Houle had been to Europe twice and attended the team’s first training camps. As previously planned, after the second camp in Spain, he traveled back to Canada to spend Christmas with the family in Sainte-Perpétue - his hometown -a small municipality 130km north of Montréal.

“There was a big snowstorm in Québec,” says Houle. “My brother Pierrik was supposed to pick me up at the airport, but my dad decided to come instead.”

At 6:30pm, Houle was back at home and sat with his brother in his bedroom. “He was playing PlayStation, like always,” he says. “We talked for a couple of hours, and I explained to him a bit about the camp.”

At around 8pm, Hugo decided to eat something while Pierrik went out for a late run in the snow. At 9pm, Pierrik was not back and they were getting concerned. Houle’s mother went out to look for him, and then his father followed shortly after. Hugo, on the other hand, decided to stay home in case Pierrik had returned.

At 10:30pm, a family friend entered the house, shocked. He had found Pierrik’s body at the side of the road, 600 metres from home. When Hugo arrived at the scene, the paramedics were still trying to resuscitate him. But there was nothing they could do. Pierrik was already dead, hit by a car, and left dying on the side of the road, under the storm. He was 19 years old.