Paret-Peintre wins Tour stage on Mont Ventoux
Paret-Peintre finished just ahead of former leader Ben Healy in a sprint for the line at the top of the famed mountain known as the "Beast of Provence.'
Santiago Buitrago was third, 4 seconds behind, ahead of Paret-Peintre's teammate Ilan Van Wilder and fifth-placed Pogačar, who withstood repeated attacks from Jonas Vingegaard to cross the line 2 seconds before his main rival.
Pogačar stretched his overall lead to 4 minutes, 15 seconds over the Danish rider. Vingegaard won the Tour in 2022 and 2023 but seems powerless to stop Pogačar from achieving his fourth win when the race finishes next weekend in Paris.
After the Tour's second rest day on Monday, Stage 16 took the riders 171.5 kilometers from Montpellier in the south of France on a long flat course until they reached the brutal climb up Ventoux.
Mathieu van der Poel, who had been third in the points classification, withdrew before Tuesday's stage with pneumonia.
Wout van Aert, the last winner when the route went through Ventoux in 2021, attacked from the off, prompting responses from Jonathan Milan, Ivan Romeo, and others.
Six were in the lead by the time they got to Bedoin at the bottom. Only 22 kilometers remained, but they were to get increasingly tough with 15.7 kilometers at an 8.8% incline from Saint-Esteve to the finish.
Healy, in a group of chasers, overtook Julian Alaphilippe while Vingegaard made his initial move. He attacked again, then again, but Pogačar stayed doggedly on his wheel. The gap was closing on Spanish rider Enric Mas in the lead.
Vingegaard got support when he caught up with Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Victor Campenaerts, but Healy was moving fast in front of them and took the lead from Mas with 3.7 kilometers to go. Paret-Peintre followed and was helped by Soudal-Quick-Step teammate Van Wilder to finish just ahead of Healy.
Vingegaard attacked again but could not shake off Pogačar, who attacked with 2 kilometers to go to deal his rival another demoralizing blow.
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