Valentin Paret-Peintre wins Stage 16 of Tour de France for first home victory

MONT VENTOUX – Frenchman Valentin Paret-Peintre stayed ice-cool in the heat to bag the first home win of the 2025 Tour de France, as he prevailed atop the intimidating Mont Ventoux in an enthralling Stage 16 on July 22.

The 24-year-old pipped Ireland’s Ben Healy atop the 1,910m-altitude finish line as Jonas Vingegaard attacked overall leader Tadej Pogacar relentlessly behind them.

But the defending champion tracked the Dane all the way up the 15km ascent to extend his overall lead by two seconds.

Trailing by 4min 13sec at the start of the stage, Vingegaard attacked with 9km to climb on Mont Ventoux, whose upper reaches resemble a lunar landscape.

They were eclipsed, however, by a frantic fight for the stage win as Soudal Quick-Step’s Paret-Peintre pipped EF Education-EasyPost rider Healy.

“I honestly didn’t believe it,” said Paret-Peintre. “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.”

Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike team did everything they could to hurt the Team UAE leader Pogacar. But the 26-year-old Slovenian resisted all they threw at him despite being isolated from his teammates early in the climb, which is already etched into Tour folklore after epic past battles.

Chris Froome ran part of the way up during a frantic wait for mechanical assistance, while even the great Eddy Merckx once needed oxygen at the summit.

“I didn’t gain any time today, but I take a lot of motivation,” said Vingegaard. “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.”

Vingegaard also revealed that he hit the deck after the finish when he was jostled by a photographer.

“Some photographer just ran straight in front of me straight after the finish line, I don’t know what he was doing,” the two-time Tour champion, who did not appear hurt, told reporters.

“People in the finish area should use their eyes a bit more.”

Earlier in the day, the Tour de France lost one of the the leading riders when Mathieu van der Poel pulled out with pneumonia, his team Alpecin–Deceuninck confirmed.

Van der Poel is the top one-day rider in cycling. While he is too large physically to win a mountainous Grand Tour, he lit up the first 10 days of this 21-day slog in the first section in the north.

The Dutchman, 30, won Stage 2 in Boulogne to claim the overall leader’s yellow jersey and kept it until Stage 5.

But his heroic failure against massive odds on Stage 9 wrote a page of cycling folklore as his “all or nothing at all” attitude pushed him to go for broke over 150km, being caught just 700m from the line in Chateauroux.

After cold symptoms worsened on July 21, the 2023 world champion was taken to hospital, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia.

“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’s 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.”

Van der Poel won Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo in 2025 and is a multiple champion at cyclo-cross and mountain biking.

“This one hurts a lot,” he said on Instagram after his team’s announcement.

Pogacar said on July 20 he was getting over a cold that had affected half the peloton. “It’s all the ice packs against the heat and the air-conditioning,” he said of the nasty cold that has dogged riders throughout the race.

Stage 17 on July 23 should be one for the sprinters, with Tim Merlier hoping to add to his two stage wins and green jersey Jonathan Milan also targeting a second win at the 700m straight run to the finish line at Valence. AFP