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One won a stage, another was part of the yellow jersey team. Others were on the attack and a few crashed.
Such were the adventures of the North American contingent during the Tour de France 2021.
Seven North Americans – three Canadians and four Americans – started in Brest, and six arrived in Paris.
Sepp Kuss won a stage, and Brandon McNulty arrived in Paris with the yellow Tadej Pogacar jersey by his side.
Michael Woods left early, in part to recover and prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, where he will be one of the favorites for gold in the elite men’s road race.
Here’s a look at the ups and downs of the North American peloton:
Sean Bennett (Continue-NextHash): 130th overall
The American Tour rookie helped line up the final sprint on the Champs-Élysées to complete a solid first crack on the Tour. Nicholas Dlamini, the first black South African to take the start of the Tour de France, as well as his teammates Victor Campenaerts and Michael Gogl did not make it to Paris, while his teammate Simon Clarke finished the Tour with a broken back .
Guillaume Boivin (Israel Start-Up Nation): 105th overall
Boivin was one of those behind-the-scenes workers for Israel Start-Up Nation, initially helping to position Woods, Dan Martin or André Greipel in the right place on key days.
Hugo Houle (Astana-Premier Tech): 66th overall; most combative price S10
Houle has been active on a few key breakaways. He won the most combative prize in stage 10 and finished 12th in stage 7. He also rode to protect GC captain Alexey Lutsenko, who arrived in Paris seventh overall.
Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) – 32nd overall; S15 stage win
Kuss was admittedly a bit slow at the start on his second Tour start. Coloradan wasted time early to relieve pressure in the overall standings, and slipped into an assistant role as Jonas Vingegaard filled the void left by Primož Roglič.
Kuss regained his legs in the second half of the race and embarked on the decisive breakaway on the mountain stage in Andorra, Kuss’ European residence where he knew the roads. With his girlfriend and family waiting along the road, Kuss attacked on the final climb to join an elite group of American stage winners on the Tour.
Kuss then helped Vingegaard cross the Pyrenees in a Tour which saw Jumbo-Visma finish with just four riders, but win four stages and finish second overall.
Kuss has opted out of the Tokyo Games and will recover before heading to Vuelta a España, where Roglič could return to defend his title.
“The best day, apart from winning the stage, was helping Jonas on the final climbs. The worst day was when Primož left because he was so strong. And the heroes for me are everyone on this team who kept fighting until the end.
Brandon McNulty (UAE-Team Emirates) – 69th overall; 11th in the final time trial
McNulty was a late addition to the UAE Emirates Tour team, and it turned out to be a wise addition.
The American Tour rookie rose to the challenge and helped Pogacar through several key mountain stages. McNulty was part of a squad that some saw as young and inexperienced, but got stronger to prove critics wrong by transporting Pogacar to Paris in yellow.
A crash in the first time trial kept McNulty from going up against the clock in week one, but he finished 11th in the final TT to end the Tour on a high note.
McNulty will compete in the Olympics, where he will be an outsider for a medal in the time trial.
“I’m glad it’s over and now we can celebrate. It was super special, and I have never had such an experience. Round? The Tour is the Tour, the first week is stressful, maybe I was lucky enough to come out on the winning team on my first try. [Monday] I fly to Tokyo, then take a little break, and we’ll see how the second half of the year unfolds.
Neilson Powless (EF Education-Nippo) – 43rd overall; 13th in S15
Back for his second Tour, Powless avoided the crashes that marred the opening week. After making several big breakaways on his Tour debut last year, Powless turned to the help of captain Rigoberto Urán, who placed second in the Pyrenees before faltering in the final mountain stages. .
Powless took part in a few key breakaways, notably finishing 13th on the stage in Andorra.
“It’s pretty nice to have arrived in Paris and I feel pretty lucky not to have crashed in such a crazy Tour. I think we had a great time supporting Rigo for quite a while. I think the overall team atmosphere was really nice throughout the race. It was just a great experience, Rigo is such a relaxed leader and we had a pretty young team here so everyone was really excited to be running and still doing something every day so it was nice to be a part of from start to finish. finish. “
Michael Woods (Israeli startup nation): DNS S19; 3rd S8, 5th S14
Woods crashed early to defeat his GC ambitions and switched to staged hunting mode.
The former rider has become one of the most aggressive riders on the Tour, achieving several winning breakaways and livening up the race. His reward was two top-5s in stages, and a new confidence that he can perform at the highest level.
The Canadian was also looking for the best climber’s polka dot jersey before succumbing in the Pyrenees. Woods pulled out early to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, where he will be one of the favorites for medals in the road race.
“I made the difficult decision not to start today. After the two accidents, and with the Olympic Games on the horizon, the [team] and I decided the best thing to do was let my body recover. The last few weeks have been amazing, and now I have to recharge my batteries and focus on Tokyo.
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