Valentin Paret-Peintre chose his place to bring to France his first victory in the Tour de France 2025 by winning at the top of Mont Ventoux at the end of a 16e Exceptional suspense step.
Coming from the breakaway, the climber of Soudal Quick-Step beat the Irishman Ben Healy to the sprint with which he fought a homeric battle on the lunar and murderous slopes of Mont Chauve, invaded by tens of thousands of spectators.
The two men finished in front of Santiago Buitrago and Ilan Van Wilder, a teammate of “VPP” returned from the devil Vauvert to offer a last relay to the French climber after the red flame.
The yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar finished 43 seconds from the winner by scratching another two seconds to his rival Jonas Vingegaard.
The Danish attacked it three times, propelled each time by a different teammate, in the ascent of one of the hardest passes in Europe.
But Pogacar responded each time, glued to the wheel of the Danish, before also attempting an attack, steed by Vingegaard, in a duel there too exciting.
In the general classification, Slovenian now has 4:15 ahead of Vingegaard five stages from arrival in Paris.
Valentin Paret-Peintre won, at 24, his second victory on the Tour de France.
AFP
Valentin Paret-Peintre delivered the tricolor nation that was starting to fear a zero pointed for the third time only in the more than secular history of the large loop.
He became the fifth French to win at the top of the Provence giant after Raymond Poulidor, Bernard Thévenet, Jean-François Bernard and Richard Virenque, enrolling in a royal line of great champions to have imposed himself in the Ventoux.
This is the third victory for the Haut-Savoyard featherweight career (1.72 m, 58 kg) after a stage on the Giro in 2024 and on the Tour of Oman this year.
The younger brother of Aurélien Paret-Peintre left his cocoon of Decathlon-Ag2r last winter to go to Belgium to join the team of Remco Evenepoel.
For Sudal Quick-Step, it is a great revenge on the fate after the abandonment of Evenepoel in the Tourmalet last week.
It is the fourth victory on this Tour for Belgian training after that of Evenepoel in the time trial in Caen and the two successes of Tim Merlier in the sprint.
