The Frenchman delivered our team’s second top three finish at this edition, after one of the most entertaining stages of the race, which belonged to the breakaway.
Valentin Paret-Peintre, who is racing his second Grand Tour of the season, was one of the 43 riders, alongside teammate Filippo Zana, that formed the large breakaway group of the day, one which put almost five minutes into a peloton who soon realized it doesn’t make any sense to chase such a numerous move, which was going all-out, determined to make it.
As was normal, this huge group fragmented in the final 60 leaving only a dozen or so riders in the lead, including Paret-Peintre. Last year’s Mont Ventoux conqueror then responded to a massive acceleration of Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) that left only three men at the front with 34 kilometers to go, and took some really long pulls which helped the trio put half a minute into the chasers.
When the Belgian went again, only Valentin could respond thanks to an immense effort, and the duo rode under the flamme rouge with a nice gap on the others, making it clear soon they would be the ones fighting for the win In the sprint, the 25-year-old did his best and finished runner-up for Soudal Quick-Step’s second podium after the one of Ethan Hayter on the inaugural stage.
It was a solid day for us.
“I felt good, and as we went in the breakaway, it was nice to be there with Filippo, as this gave us cards to play in the finale. Inside the last kilometers, I tried to gamble a bit but it didn’t work out. I did my best in the sprint after a hard and really intense day of racing, but Wout was just stronger. We can take a lot of heart from this stage and keep trying in the next ones”, said Valentin, who was joined in the top ten by his Soudal Quick-Step teammate Filippo Zana.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images