TdF stage 16: Legendary on Mont Ventoux

 

Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quickstep) gave France a thrilling and timely victory for the history books on stage 16 of the Tour de France, The French climber conquered the slopes of one of cycling's most famous climbs - Mont Ventoux. 

"To tell the truth, this wasn't the plan at the start of the day. I really thought that it was going to be a stage for the GC contenders, but when I saw that a group was on the move. I said that I had nothing to lose fir I join them. I felt good, and having tow teammates in that group was a big confidence-boost. I told them that I had strong legs and believed  in my chances, and they did an incredible job. I am extremely grateful for this, I will never forget Ilan's effort and pulls in the final kilometer. It's hard for me to tell you how I managed to win this stage, but I did it and now I'm on cloud nine. This is a special day for myself, for my team, and for my country, and I can't describe just how happy I am.

-Valentin Paret-Peintre. He was just one-year-old the last time a French rider won on Mont Ventoux. 

Valentin Paret-Peintre is the 5th Frenchman to win at Mont Ventoux during a stage of the Tour de France, following:

Raymond Poulidour (1965), Bernard Thévenet (1972), Jean-Francois Bernard (1987), Richard Virenque (2002).

The chosen three on the bottom slopes of Ventoux: 

Buitrago, Healy and Paret-Peintre

Paret-Peintre with Richard Virenque, the last Frenchman to 

win on Ventoux in 2002.

Combativity award goes to Ben Healy

"I hit Ventoux and I wasn't really sure how my legs were. I took it steady at the bottom and kind of went at a nice pace. It's an hour-long climb. Then, I started to realize I was actually feeling really good today and we definitely could race for the win. I just did a little bit too late, I think, because this top section is a bit shallower and the headwind was just too hard to break Valentin today. I tried to get a jump on him in the finish, because I knew he was more explosive than me on a finish like this. I did my best but didn't quite get him."

-Ben Healy is ninth overall on GC, as the race heads for the Alps.

Look back...

Charly Gaul climbs Mont Ventoux to victory, Stage 18 ITT 1958 TdF