This year's Tour de France finally witnessed a home win as Valentin Paret-Peintre secured a breathtaking Stage 16 victory on top of Mont Ventoux on Tuesday.
The Soudal-Soudal Quick-Step rider had to dig deep to edge out Ireland's Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) on the line to secure only his second Grand Tour victory – following a triumph in last year's Giro d'Italia – with Colombian Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) finishing four seconds back on the top two.
Yellow jersey holder Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard fought an enthralling battle up the iconic 15km climb as the second-placed Dane attacked on four separate occasions but was unable to drop the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider.
In the end, Pogacar came home fifth on the 'Giant of Provence', two seconds ahead of Vingegaard, with the Slovenian extending his overall lead to 4 minutes and 15 seconds. Germany's Florian Lipowitz is in third, more than nine minutes off the pace.
There was more frustration for two-time winner Vingegaard when he crashed into a photographer after the stage finished.
“[He] just ran straight out of in front of me, straight after the finish line. I don't know what he was doing,” said the 2022 and 2023 champion. “I went down. I think people in the finish area, they should use their eyes a bit more.”
Vingegaard insisted he would continue to fight Pogacar all the way for the title. “I was feeling very good today, so happy with the feeling today, and happy with the attacks I tried to do,” he said.
“I didn't gain any time today but I take a lot of motivation. “He [Pogacar] followed me every time I attacked, and I followed him when he attacked.
“So I don't know if I could see any weaknesses today. But at least it gives me some motivation how good I felt today. And as I said earlier, I will keep trying.”
In what was one of the most exciting breakaway days in recent Tour memory, Paret-Peintre came out on top and secured the first French win at the summit of Ventoux for 23 years and only the fifth of all time.
“I honestly didn’t believe it,” he said. “I thought Pogacar would go for victory today. But when we built a real gap, I told myself, you can’t let a win on Mont Ventoux slip through your fingers.”
Meanwhile, Mathieu van der Poel's Tour de France is over after the 2023 world champion was diagnosed with pneumonia, his team Alpecin-Deceuninck announced on Tuesday.
The Dutch rider was taken to hospital on Monday after cold symptoms worsened and he failed to make it to the start line for Stage 16.
Van der Poel had edged out Pogacar in a sprint finish to win Stage 2 and had worn the yellow jersey for four days but had fallen one hour and 40 minutes behind the leader by the end of Sunday's Stage 15.
“Mathieu had been showing symptoms of a cold for several days, but yesterday afternoon his condition deteriorated significantly. In the evening, he developed a fever and was taken to Narbonne hospital for tests,” the Belgian team said.
“Medical tests revealed that Mathieu was suffering from pneumonia. In consultation with the medical staff, it was decided that he cannot continue the race. His health is the priority.”
Stage 17 should be one for the sprinters as Tim Merlier hopes to add to his two stage wins and current green jersey holder Jonathan Milan also targets a second win at the 700m straight run to the finish line at Valence.
