Paret Peintre wins on Mont Ventoux, Pogačar consolidates Tour de France lead
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.
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The descent from the Col du Glandon is steep, winding and irregular, with Visma Lease-a-Bike hitting it hard as they desperately tried to unsettle Pogačar. The cow stage. Stage 19 was shortened after a mass cull of a cattle herd affected by nodular dermatitis, and fears that the Tour caravan could spread the illness throughout France. It meant the final mountain stage was just 95km long, producing a strangely muted finale as the GC favourites watched each other and almost gave away the victory to Arensman. A sunlit ride towards Paris? Not a bit of it. The final days of the Tour brought storms, and only Groves survived them cleanly, avoiding a crash in the breakaway before separating himself from a group of far superior climbers on the road towards Pontarlier. A tactically perfect race from the Australian. 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