MONT VENTOUX, France (22 July 2025) – In the cathedral of cycling suffering that is Mont Ventoux, where legends are forged and dreams are shattered against the white limestone ramparts, it was the smallest man who stood tallest. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), all sinew and determination, carved his name into the immortal mythology of the Giant of Provence with a victory that crackled with the electricity of pure French passion.

The numbers tell only part of the story: 15.7 kilometers at 8.8% gradient, 165 riders departing Montpellier under the Mediterranean sun, one pneumonia-stricken Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) absent from his team’s ranks. But statistics cannot capture the poetry of what unfolded on these sacred slopes, where five Frenchmen have now tasted glory and where the 2025 Tour de France’s first victory for the host nation bloomed like a desert flower.

The Storm Before the Calm

From the gun, the peloton writhed like a serpent sensing danger ahead. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), the last man to conquer Ventoux in Tour colors back in 2021, fired the opening salvo—a reminder that reputation carries weight in the currency of cycling warfare. Yet the Belgian’s early thrust was merely a feint, absorbed by a peloton that understood the day’s true reckoning lay miles ahead on the moonscape summit.

22/07/2025 – Tour de France 2025 – Étape 16 – Montpellier / Mont Ventoux (171,5 km) – Marco HALLER (TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM), Marc HIRSCI (TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM) – Photo © A.S.O.
22/07/2025 – Tour de France 2025 – Étape 16 – Montpellier / Mont Ventoux (171,5 km) – Marco HALLER (TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM), Marc HIRSCI (TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM) – Photo © A.S.O.

The real battle began at kilometer 11, when Marco Haller (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Marc Hirschi (Tudor) and Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) slipped the leash. Behind them, Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) transformed into a human shield for his team, his massive frame cutting through the wind as he attempted to cork the bottle of attacking ambition. But pressure, like water, finds its way through the smallest cracks.

What followed was cycling chaos at its most beautiful—a two-hour ballet performed at nearly 50 kilometers per hour that eventually saw 35 riders clear the field. Among them, like actors gathering for the final scene of a Shakespearean tragedy, were the day’s protagonists: the elfin Paret-Peintre, the irrepressible Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), and a supporting cast that read like a who’s who of stage hunting nobility.

The Filtering of Dreams

Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike), Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike)—the names rolled off like an incantation as the breakaway swelled to include cycling’s eternal optimists. But it was Tudor who provided the first act of selection, Matteo Trentin’s acceleration at kilometer 105 splitting the group like a blade through silk.

22/07/2025 – Tour de France 2025 – Étape 16 – Montpellier / Mont Ventoux (171,5 km) – Matteo TRENTIN (TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM) – Photo © A.S.O.

Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), that mercurial master of the unexpected, joined the move alongside Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), Enric Mas (Movistar Team), Simone Velasco (XDS-Astana), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal Quick-Step). Eight riders, temporarily united in their pursuit of glory, though Eenkhoorn’s tactical withdrawal to rejoin his teammates hinted at the deeper chess match being played.

At Châteauneuf-de-Pape—a name that carries its own weight in French culture—Abrahamsen claimed the intermediate sprint, the leading septet holding a gossamer-thin 25-second advantage over their pursuers and a more substantial 4’55” cushion on Politt’s peloton. When Wright punctured with 36 kilometers remaining, it was as if fate itself was refining the cast for the final drama.

The Yellow Jersey Under Siege

As the first ramps of Ventoux bit into tired legs, Alaphilippe did what Alaphilippe does—he attacked with the sudden violence of a thunderclap. Mas and Arensman responded, but it was the Spaniard who pressed on solo with 13 kilometers of suffering remaining, his Movistar jersey disappearing into the heat haze that dances perpetually above Ventoux’s lower slopes.

22/07/2025 – Tour de France 2025 – Étape 16 – Montpellier / Mont Ventoux (171,5 km) – Enric MAS (MOVISTAR TEAM) – Photo © A.S.O

Behind, in the chasing group, Paret-Peintre began his relentless acceleration campaign, each surge a small hammer blow against the cohesion of his companions. Only Healy could match the Frenchman’s pace, the Irish climber’s lean frame cutting through the thinning air with metronomic precision.

22/07/2025 – Tour de France 2025 – Étape 16 – Montpellier / Mont Ventoux (171,5 km) – Tiesj BENOOT (TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE) – Photo © A.S.O

But the real theatre was unfolding in the yellow jersey group, where Visma-Lease a Bike had transformed into an instrument of tactical precision. When Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) launched his first attack with 8.5 kilometers to the summit, it was with the methodical violence of a surgeon’s scalpel. Again and again the Dane surged, supported by the Herculean efforts of Benoot and Campenaerts, turning the screw on Tadej Pogačar’s (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) ambitions.

22/07/2025 – Tour de France 2025 – Étape 16 – Montpellier / Mont Ventoux (171,5 km) – Tadej POGAČAR (UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG), Jonas VINGEGAARD (TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE) – Photo © A.S.O
22/07/2025 – Tour de France 2025 – Étape 16 – Montpellier / Mont Ventoux (171,5 km) – Tadej POGAČAR (UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG), Jonas VINGEGAARD (TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE) – Photo © A.S.O

Yet the Slovenian champion, yellow jersey tight across his shoulders, responded to every thrust with the composure of a master swordsman. This was not the broken Pogačar of previous Ventoux encounters—this was a rider reborn, his legs carrying the confidence of overall victory within their sinews.

The Dance of Death

With four kilometers remaining, the convergence was complete. Healy and Paret-Peintre reeled in the fading Mas, their partnership a study in controlled aggression. Behind them, Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) and Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) clawed their way back into contention, the Belgian’s tactical acumen evident as he took control of the group in the final kilometer—a human dam preventing the yellow jersey group from making contact.

22/07/2025 – Tour de France 2025 – Étape 16 – Montpellier / Mont Ventoux (171,5 km) – Ben HEALY (EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST), Valentin PARET PEINTRE (SOUDAL QUICK-STEP)

What followed was pure cycling theater. Healy and Paret-Peintre traded accelerations like boxers feeling for an opening, each attack met with a counter, each surge answered with steely resolve. The headwind that plagued the final sections added another layer of tactical complexity—timing would be everything.

In those final hundred meters, as the gradient pitched skyward one last time, Ben Healy made his move. The EF Education-EasyPost climber had chosen his moment perfectly, his sprint opening with the precision of a Swiss timepiece. For a heartbeat, victory seemed within his grasp.

But Paret-Peintre, that slight figure who had climbed with such metronomic excellence, found something extra in his reserves. His final surge, timed to perfection in the closing meters, was a masterclass in race craft—waiting, watching, then striking with the venom of a coiled serpent.

22/07/2025 – Tour de France 2025 – Étape 16 – Montpellier / Mont Ventoux (171,5 km) – Valentin PARET-PEINTRE (SOUDAL QUICK-STEP), Ben HEALY (EF EDUCATION EASYPOST) – Photo © A.S.O.
A French Renaissance

As Paret-Peintre crossed the line, arms raised to the Provençal sky, it was impossible not to feel the weight of history settling on his shoulders. The fifth Frenchman to conquer Ventoux in Tour colors, he joins Richard Virenque, Marco Pantani, Jean-François Bernard, and Eddy Merckx in cycling’s most exclusive club—though only the French names truly matter on this most French of mountains.

22/07/2025 – Tour de France 2025 – Étape 16 – Montpellier / Mont Ventoux (171,5 km) – Valentin PARET-PEINTRE (SOUDAL QUICK-STEP), Ben HEALY (EF EDUCATION EASYPOST) – Photo © A.S.O.

“As a Frenchman, it’s crazy to win a stage in the Tour de France,” Paret-Peintre would later reflect, his voice still thick with emotion. “This morning I didn’t really believe I could win, but you have to take your chances anyway. On Ventoux it’s even more unique. It’s a legendary place in cycling, even internationally, everyone knows Mont Ventoux.”

His tactical brilliance in the finale was evident in every word: “I knew the last few hundred meters were very steep, so I chose to wait for Healy to launch the sprint first and then try to overtake him.” It was the calculated gamble of a rider who understood that on Ventoux, patience is often rewarded.

The Battle Continues

Behind the stage winner, Buitrago completed the podium ahead of Van Wilder, while Pogačar crossed the line 43 seconds back—crucially, still ahead of his Danish nemesis. The time gaps were minimal, but in a Tour de France where every second carries the weight of destiny, Pogačar’s defensive masterclass spoke to his growing maturity as a Grand Tour champion.

“Jonas really tried today,” Pogačar acknowledged with the magnanimity of a champion secure in his position. “They rode quite well as a team, but luckily I had better legs than in 2021 and could cope with Jonas’ acceleration. My big focus was Jonas, and nothing else. Jonas and I will race each other until Paris.”

Vingegaard’s relentless attacks had found no chink in the yellow jersey’s armor, but the Dane’s tactical aggression served notice that the final week would be no procession. With Benoot and Campenaerts providing the kind of mountain support that wins Tours, Visma-Lease a Bike had demonstrated they remain a force capable of changing the race’s trajectory.

For Healy, the runner-up spot carried both satisfaction and the sting of what might have been. “I tried to get the jump on Valentin before that right-hand turn into the line,” he explained. “I managed to do that, but those last hundred metres are so hard… He had a better kick and beat me to the line.”

The Road to Paris

As the peloton rolled away from Ventoux’s summit, the 2025 Tour de France had found its French hero in the most unlikely of packages. Paret-Peintre, initially omitted from Soudal Quick-Step’s Tour roster before being called up to support Remco Evenepoel, had transformed disappointment into triumph on cycling’s most demanding stage.

“At first, I wasn’t scheduled to do the Tour de France, so I was very disappointed,” he admitted. “But then they brought me in to help Remco, so I had absolutely no goal of winning a stage. Then we had to regroup within the team and during the rest day, we said to ourselves that it was already good to have won stages and that we could keep going.”

The Giant of Provence had made its choice, anointing the smallest rider in the bunch as its 2025 champion. In a sport where the mountains never lie, Valentin Paret-Peintre had spoken the truth that all climbers understand: on the steepest slopes, it is not the size of the rider that matters, but the size of his heart.

With Paris still days away and the yellow jersey battle intensifying, the 2025 Tour de France had found its rhythm—a symphony of suffering, strategy, and sublime human achievement played out against the most beautiful backdrops in sport. The road ahead promised more drama, but for one magical afternoon on Mont Ventoux, France had its hero, and cycling had its poetry.

By the Numbers

 
27: FRANCE IS BACK!
Valentin Paret-Peintre is the first Frenchman to win in this Tour. He ends a 27 stages and 380 days drought, since Anthony Turgis won the 9th stage of the Tour 2024 in Troyes. Paret-Peintre claims his 3rd professional victory, again on an uphill finish after his triumphs at Bocca della Selva (Giro 2024) and Jabal Al Akhdhar (Tour of Oman 2025).

60: FROM POULIDOR TO PARET-PEINTRE
Valentin Paret-Peintre claims the 5th French victory at the legendary Mont Ventoux, 60 years after Raymond Poulidor’s first in 1965 (stage 14, already starting from Montpellier). Then came Bernard Thévenet (1972, stage 14), Jean-François Bernard (1987, stage 18, time trial), and Richard Virenque (2002, stage 14).

3: SOUDAL QUICK-STEP CAN WIN EVERYWHERE!
It’s Soudal Quick-Step’s 4th win this year, something the team hasn’t achieved since 2021. Valentin Paret-Peintre is also the team 3rd different winner, a first since the Tour 2015. Perhaps most impressive is that the team has managed to win two sprints (Tim Merlier in Dunkerque and Châteauroux), a time trial (Remco Evenepoel in Caen) and a mountain stage (Paret-Peintre today). This had never happened before!

4: HEALY THE FIGHTER
At just 24 years old, Ben Healy has been awarded a 4th combativity prize (Saint-Lary-Soulan last year; Vire Normandie, Le Mont-Dore,and Mont Ventoux this year). Only one rider of the peloton, Wout Van Aert, has more (5). Second today, Healy secured his 3rd podium finish in this Tour after his victory in Vire Normandie and his 3rd place in Le Mont-Dore. He is the first Irishman to achieve such a feat since Sam Bennett in 2020.

2002: QUICK-STEP, WHAT A STORY!
Valentin Paret-Peintre triumphed on the slopes of Soudal Quick-Step’s first victory, having achieved it here in 2002 with Richard Virenque. It was the team’s only success on a HC summit to date! The Frenchman also achieved the team’s first mountain stage victory since Julian Alaphilippe’s triumphs in Bagnères-de-Luchon, Le Grand-Bornand (2018), and Nice (2020), but each of those times, the finish was on the flat.

25: YOUNGEST VENTOUX PODIUM
Valentin Paret-Peintre, Ben Healy, and Santiago Buitrago have an average age of 25 years and 30 days. This is the youngest stage podium of the Tour 2025, and also the youngest in the history of stage finishes at Mont Ventoux! The previous record dates back to 1970 (26 years and 20 days for Eddy Merckx, Martin Van den Bossche, and Lucien Van Impe).

3: HAT-TRICK OF NEW WINNERS
Valentin Paret-Peintre becomes the 862nd different Tour stage winner. After Thymen Arensman (stage 14) and Tim Wellens (stage 15), he is the 3rd new winner in a row! Such a run hasn’t occurred since stages 11 to 13 of the Tour 2022, won by Jonas Vingegaard, Tom Pidcock, and Mads Pedersen.

3-7: COLOMBIA AND SPAIN IMPROVING
Santiago Buitrago (3rd) secured Colombia’s first stage podium since the start, the last being Fernando Gaviria’s 3rd place in Dijon last year. A little further back, Enric Mas equaled Spain’s best result, finishing 7th like his compatriot Ivan Romeo in Caen. The Spanish have not won in 44 stages, since Carlos Rodriguez’s victory in Morzine in 2023.

21: POIS-GACAR
Tadej Pogačar takes the polka-dot jersey from Lenny Martinez, who will wear it tomorrow since the Slovenian also holds the Yellow Jersey. He once again becomes the rider in the peloton with the most polka-dot jerseys, 21 compared to 20 for his teammate Tim Wellens.

4: VAN WILDER HIGHER THAN EVER
Ilan Van Wilder played a decisive role in his teammate Valentin Paret-Peintre’s victory, accompanying him for part of the stage and the final climb. Finishing 4th, the Belgian recorded his first top-5 finish in a Grand Tour road stage. His only top-5 finish at this level came was in the Vuelta 2022, but in a time trial.

Stage 16 Results

1. Valentine Paret Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) – 4h 03′ 19”
2. Ben Healy (EF Education – EasyPost) – 4h 03′ 19”
3. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) – +0′ 04”
4. Ilan van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) – +0′ 14”
5. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) – +0′ 43”
6. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | lease a Bike) – +0′ 45”
7. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) – +0′ 53”
8. Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) – +1′ 17”
9. Primož Roglič (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe) – +1′ 51”
10. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe) – +1′ 53”

General Classification After Stage 16

1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) – 58h 24′ 46”
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | lease a Bike) – +4′ 15”
3. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe) – +9′ 03”
4. Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) – +11′ 04”
5. Primož Roglič (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe) – +11′ 42”
6. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) – +13′ 20”
7. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) – +14′ 50”
8. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) – +17′ 01”
9. Ben Healy (EF Education – EasyPost) – +17′ 52”
10. Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) – +20′ 45”

Jersey Standings after Stage 16

Yellow Jersey (GC Leader): Tadej Pogačar
Green Jersey (Points): Jonathan Milan
Polka-Dot Jersey (Mountains): Tadej Pogačar
White Jersey (Best Young Rider): Florian Lipowitz

 

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