Valentin Paret-Peintre won the first French victory on this 2025 Tour de France, at the top of Mont Ventoux! At the end of a two sprint, the Soudal-Quick Step rider ahead of Ben Healy.
We had to wait for the 16th stage, but it was worth it! While French cycling feared the big Fanny loop for the first time since 1999, Valentin Paretrere came to unlock the tricolor counter by winning the legendary stage of the Ventoux! The Sudal-Quick Step-Quick rider has ahead of Ben Healy and Santiago Buitrago, two members of the breakaway of the day, while behind, Tadej Pogacar, probably less in good shape than he hoped, could not precede Jonas Vingegaard than two seconds.
24 years old, Valentin Paret-Peintre entered through the big door in the hearts of the French, even if he had already won a stage of the Giro last year. The Haut-Savoyard, spent this winter of Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale (where his brother Aurélien still evolves, also present on this tower), in Sudal-Quick Step, delivered a magnificent stage and is rewarded in the most beautiful way. Member of the big breakaway of the day, he perfectly managed the rise of the Ventoux, even if Enric Mas seemed to have a time to have sufficient advance to prevail. And in the final sprint, which he disputed with the old yellow jersey Ben Healy, the climber asserted his power to get ahead of the Irish on the line and become the first French since Richard Virenque in 2002 to triumph at the top of the Provence giant.
Paret-painter, a first from Virenque
Before the legendary ascent of Mont Ventoux, this stage had been relatively flat, through the Hérault, the Gard and the Vaucluse, and the breakaway of the day had taken long minutes to take shape, the teammates of the yellow jersey, starting with Nils Politt (who rebuilt a Movistar runner who wanted to go to the outposts) not wishing that a big breakaway is formed. Marco Haller, Marc Hirschi (Tudor) and Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) managed to escape the vigilance of the peloton and counted up to 1’40 in advance.
But while they were going to be resumed, after 72 kilometers, a group of 23 runners came off and the three men were able to hang the wagons. Among them, teammates from Pogacar (Sivakov, Soler), Vingegaard (Benoot, Campenaerts), and very solid runners (Arensman, Healy, Buitrago, Alaphilippe, Mas, Woods …), and therefore Valentin Paretrere. They quickly took more than three minutes ahead, and at the 105th kilometer, Wright, Arensman, Alaphilippe, Trentin, Mas, Velasco and Abrahamsen escaped the escape, while the Yellow Jersey Paloton pointed more than six minutes behind.
Victim of a puncture, Wright had to leave the front of the race, and therefore six in the lead when attacking the final ascent. Trentin then Abrahamsen quickly cracked, then Velasco, and Enric Mas finally decided to attack 14 kilometers from the finish. The Spanish runner probably considered victory, but 3.5km from the summit, he was taken over by the duo Ben Healy-Valentin Paret-Peintre, while runners like Alaphilippe and Arensman had cracked. The Irishman and the French temporarily dropped the Spaniard, who returned, in the company of Santiago Buitrago, less than two kilometers from the finish. But in the final sprint, there were only two and “VPPs” were the strongest.
Pogacar and vingegaard at the elbow
In parallel with the struggle for stage victory, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard have also fought a beautiful battle, even if they probably thought for a moment that they were going to be able to play the victory. Vingegaard accelerated nine kilometers from the finish, then another hectometers later, to try to win Pogacar, but the Slovenian remained in the wheels without worry. The Danish has retained his luck four kilometers, to no avail again. And almost two kilometers from the summit, the yellow jersey attacked, but without managing to detach from his rival either.
Finally, Pogacar took two seconds to his dolphin by a few meters away on the line. The runner of Uae Emirates was probably not as strong as the previous days, but he still managed to take time. The fourth coronation on the large loop is getting closer. Behind, Kevin Vauquelin suffered, ending 3’42 from the winner, and Primoz Roglic passes to him. But the best French still remains 6th in the general classification.
