PARET-PEINTRE VICTORIOUS ON VENTOUX AS POGACAR STANDS FIRM
France’s Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) ended the host nation’s long wait for a win with a nail-biting Stage 16 victory on Mont Ventoux as Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) weathered the storm to extend his grip on the yellow jersey by two extra seconds on Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Vingegaard put in no fewer than three big attacks on the Giant of Provence – benefitting from Visma satellite riders Teisj Benoot and Victor Campenaerts to put his big rival Pogacar under pressure.
But the triple Tour winner had an answer for everyone of the Dane’s accelerations before kicking clear on the final ramp to cross the line in fifth place after what was a thrilling four-way battle for the stage spoils.
‘Finally it’s the French!’ – Paret-Peintre wins atop Mont Ventoux as Pogacar fends off Vingegaard
Video credit: TNT Sports
Paret-Peintre rode in a leading trio alongside Ireland’s Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Colombia’s Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) after Spain’s Enric Mas (Movistar) was distanced entering the final kilometre of the savage ascent.
As the pace eased, a fourth rider battled back on – but it was not Mas, but Paret-Peintre’s Soudal Quick-Step team-mate Ilan van Wilder instead. The Belgian put in a turn on the front to give the Frenchman a break – and when Healy put in his final push for a second victory on the Tour, Paret-Peintre had his measure.
After the sharp final bend, the 24-year-old whippet climber rounded Healy on the steep ramp to the line to take the biggest win of his career – and his Soudal Quick-Step team’s fourth win on this Tour after Tim Merlier’s two sprint scalps and Remco Evenepoel’s victory in the Stage 5 time trial.
Stage 6 winner Healy took second place and rose back to ninth in the general classification, while Buitrago completed the podium ahead of Van Wilder.
The battle for yellow played out less than a minute down the road, with Pogacar matching Vingegaard’s flurry of attacks and then seeing the Dane hold firm after his own acceleration in the final kilometre. But the Slovenian’s superior uphill kick eventually saw the 26-year-old open a small gap over his Danish rival on the final ramp as Pogacar came home 43 seconds down on Paret-Peintre for fifth place.
‘Superglue!’ – Vingegaard attacks three times, Pogacar responds in thrilling Mont Ventoux battle
Video credit: TNT Sports
Mas, who led the race for much of the ascent of Ventoux, took seventh place ahead of fellow escapee Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) before Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe duo Primoz Roglic and Florian Lipowitz completed the top 10 just over a minute behind Pogacar.
Lipowitz consolidated his third place on the virtual podium and grip on the white jersey after his Scottish rival Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) was tailed off on the climb and finished 33 seconds behind in fourteenth. Roglic, meanwhile, rose into the top five at the expense of Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) after the Frenchman conceded the best part of two minutes.