Race report

Paret-Peintre claims Ventoux as Pogacar repels Vingegaard onslaught

The Frenchman took the first home with of the 2025 Tour de France after making his way into a huge breakaway group and he outsprinted Ben Healy at the summit. Jonas Vingegaard attacked Tadej Pogacar repeatedly but he couldn't shake off the Slovenian.

Valentin Paret-Peintre wins stage 16 of the 2025 Tour de France
Cor Vos

Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quickstep) took a brilliant stage win at the top of Mont Ventoux to take the first French stage win of this year’s Tour de France.

The Frenchman had been part of the day’s breakaway and found himself as part of a group of four men leading into the final kilometre of the 171km stage, including team mate Ilan Van Wilder. As the Belgian finished a final turn, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) made his move around the final bend onto the last, steep slope, but Paret-Peintre out-sprinted him to take the win. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) was third.

In the GC battle, both Tadej Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma | Lease a Bike teams had placed riders in a huge breakaway, but on the lower slopes of Mont Ventoux, UAE’s plan fell apart. While Pogačar’s teammates were caught and passed, Vingegaard attacked 7.2km from the finish, and he still had Tiesj Benoot and Victor Campenaerts ahead to drop back and support him. 

Despite his numerical advantage, Vingegaard was unable to drop his rival despite numerous attacks before and after he reached his teammates. Pogačar made his own move late on the climb, but he was also unable to get a gap, and the pair finished together, 43 seconds down on Paret-Peintre.

In the overall standings, Pogacar is 4:15 ahead of Vingegaard, with Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) third at 9:03.

In what was an epic day, the winner had tagged onto Healy’s wheel when four men bridged from a large chasing group to a smaller leading breakaway from which Marc Soler (Movistar) led. The Spanish rider was caught by Healy and Paret-Peintre after passing Chalet Reynard, 6.2km from the line, repelling their attacks until finally he was dropped after Buitrago arrived. 

Inside the final kilometre, there were only three at the front, but Van Wilder reached them, putting in a huge effort for team mate Paret-Peintre before the final, steep dig to the line. 

How it unfolded

Any stage, including the climb of Mont Ventoux, will always be one of the race’s iconic days, and, as has been the pattern this year, there was another crazy start as the peloton hurtled out of Montpellier for the 171.5km race.

After a frantic flurry of attacks and with 10km behind them, three men got a small gap, though behind them, many others were keen to close the gap. Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and the Tudor Pro Cycling pair of Marco Haller and Marc Hirschi certainly made it hard for the chasers, though another 10km further on, they only led by 30 seconds.

Over the ensuing 50km, other groups set off in pursuit, before the breakaway was brought back within touching distance and Visma | Lease a Bike led a group across the five-second gap, and a break of 36 emerged from the chaos, eventually building a lead of three minutes. That group included two stage winners in Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) and former yellow jersey Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), along with Tiesj Benoot and Victor Campenaerts, both from the Visma | Lease a Bike team of second-placed Jonas Vingegaard. Pogačar also had teammates up the road, Marc Soler and Pavel Sivakov, providing the yellow jersey with useful allies.

Such a large group would always be difficult to manage and just inside the final 65km, it split, with seven men getting away and quickly building a lead. This consisted of Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Enric Mas (Movistar), Simone Velasco (XDS Astana), stage 11 winner Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), Julian Alaphilippe and Matteo Trentin, the latter two proving Tudor Pro Cycling were up for the fight.

Initially, they were only able to build a small lead, but that had drifted out to 1.50 when entering the closing 35km. Meanwhile, the peloton had allowed a deficit of well over six minutes to build.

For Tuesday’s stage, the route took the classic route to the top of Mont Ventoux, via Chalet Reynard, the 15.6km climb boasting an average gradient of 8.7% ensuring it would have some effect on the outcome of the race. The leading group had begun to fall apart by the time they reached the bottom, only Arensman, Alaphilippe and Mas remaining, while Healy’s chasing group were only 1.37 behind, and the peloton seemingly out of the fight, six minutes back.

As Mas headed up the road alone, Buitrago, Healy, Paret-Peintre and Mike Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) set about chasing the leader, though behind them the peloton was flying, Visma | Lease a Bike leading the way through huge crowds. 

With 10km to go, Mas had extended his lead to 45 seconds, while Healy’s four-man group had made no impact, and the peloton was still well over 5km down. However, as the Spaniard reached Chalet Reynard, with 6.2km to go, Healy and Paret-Peintre began to close him down, reaching him just inside the final 4km.

Result: stage 16 Tour de France 2025

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