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Valentin Paret-Peintre became the first French winner on this year’s Tour de France as he edged an enthralling stage 16 on Tuesday, pipping Ireland’s Ben Healy atop the mythical 1910m altitude Mont Ventoux summit finish.
Behind them, Jonas Vingegaard attacked overall leader Tadej Pogacar relentlessly, but the defending champion tracked the Dane all the way up the 15km ascent to extend his lead by two seconds.
Trailing by four minutes and 13 seconds at the start of this stage, Vingegaard attacked with 9km to climb on Mont Ventoux, whose eerie upper reaches resemble a lunar landscape.
“I didn’t want to push too hard and then let him have me on a counter-attack. I kept my rhythm as much as I could,” said Pogacar, who has been fighting off a cold this week.
“He attacked many times but I just tried to hold his wheel.”
Vingegaard was knocked off his bike by a motorbike after the finish line but was unhurt, remounting to go and congratulate Pogacar on another fine battle.
“He seemed okay,” Pogacar said later.
Pogacar’s Team UAE boss described Vingegaard as a “warrior”.
“He’s got the guts and the legs, and we expect him to keep on attacking every day now. He’s a warrior,” Mauro Gianetti said.
The battle for the overall lead, however, was eclipsed by a frantic fight for the stage win between EF’s Healy and Soudal Quick-Step’s Paret-Peintre, who became the first French winner on Mont Ventoux since Richard Virenque in 2002.
“He looked so happy at the finish line,” said Pogacar.
Mont Ventoux has long been held in awe by riders and spectators alike, and it has witnessed some of the greatest dramas and tragedies of the Tour.
In 1967, the British cyclist Tom Simpson died here after collapsing on a baking climb.
The great Eddy Merckx once needed oxygen at the summit while Chris Froome ran part of the way up during a frantic wait for mechanical assistance on his way to a third Tour de France title in 2016.
Perfect tactic
Healy, who wore the yellow jersey for two days after winning the Bastille Day stage six, appeared to be heading for his second stage win as the two riders approached the finish of an epic tussle.
Paret-Peintre looked completely drained but, cheered on by the home crowd, he found a final surge of strength to overtake the Irishman with 20 metres remaining and held on to the line.
“I was near giving up, Healy was so strong but I said to myself, ‘Come on, it’s the Tour de France, Mont Ventoux,'” said Paret-Peintre.
“I knew that if I held on, the last section suited me better than him as it’s really steep. It turned out to be the perfect tactic.”
Healy’s consolation was to be awarded the day’s combativity prize while moving up one place to ninth in the overall standings.
Almost unnoticed further down the mountain, German breakout star Florian Lipowitz consolidated his third place, extending his lead on fourth-placed Scottish rider Oscar Onley by around 30 seconds.
With two more Alpine stages coming up and five more stages left, Vingegaard and his Visma team did everything they could to hurt the Team UAE leader Pogacar here, and can only hope they have tired the pugnacious champion.
But the 26-year-old resisted all they threw at him, despite being isolated from his teammates early in the climb.
Stage 17 should be one for the sprinters as Tim Merlier hopes to add to his two stage wins and current green jersey Jonathan Milan also targets a second win at the 700m straight run to the finish line at Valence.
The weather however could rewrite the script with 50kph winds forecast along the 170km run.
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