photo credits @ Le Tour
The Giant of Provence crowned one of the riders with the smallest stature in the peloton, Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), whose light weight allowed him to tame the mighty slopes of the day. After an extraordinary battle with Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), the pure climber became the fifth Frenchman to win atop Mont Ventoux, and also claimed the first victory this year for the host nation. In their wake, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) traded blows, with the Danish climber and his teammates piling the pressure on the Slovenian leader of the race. Pogacar managed to resist and eventually gained a few seconds on the line. The battle goes on into the final week of the Tour 2025.
Race Highlights
The attackers had some 150 kilometers of flat terrain before they battled it out along Mont Ventoux, with Wout van Aert, the last winner of a Tour stage featuring the Giant of Provence (in 2021), immediately setting off. But, the Belgian rider was rapidly reeled in, with Marco Haller, Marc Hirschi (Tudor) and Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) escaping some 11km later.
After covering the first two hours witht an average speed of 49.9 km/h, a huge contingent of 32 riders containing the likes of Pavel Sivakov, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Tiesj Benoot, Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike), Pascal Eenkhoorn, Valentin Paret Peintre, Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-Quick Step), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty), Santiago Buitrago, Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), Mick van Dijke (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ), Julian Alaphilippe, Matteo Trentin (Tudor), Ewen Costiou, Raúl Garcia Pierna (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Enric Mas, Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar Team), Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), Clément Champoussin, Simone Velasco (XDS-Astana), Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies), Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL), Michael Woods, Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), Jarrad Drizners, Brent van Moer (Lotto), Jonas Abrahamsen y Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) made contact with the lead trio.
At kilometer 105, Trentin decided to animate things, a move that was quickly followed by Alaphilippe, Wright, Arensman, Mas, Velasco, Abrahamsen and Eenkhoorn to form a lead group.
Abrahamsen later claimed the intermediate sprint at Châteauneuf-de-Pape, while the group was still clinging to a 25-second lead. However, a puncture with 36 kilometers to go, caused Wright to fall back, reducing the lead group to just six men.
Meanwhile, Alaphilippe attacked as soon as the sextet hit the first slopes of Mont Ventoux, with Mas and Arensman fast on his wheel.
From there, the Spaniard went solo with 13 kilometers remaining, while the chase group exploded with several accelerations coming from Valentin Paret-Peintre, who alongside Healy, later caught Mas with 4 kilometers to go.
Back in the peloton, Visma-Lease a Bike set a strong pace, with Vingegaard attacking 8.5 kilometers from the summit. The Danish climber continued to attack again and again, but Pogacar easily stayed on terms with him.
Back up front, Healy and Paret-Peintre continued their assault on one another, with Mas, Buitrago and Van Wilder making their way into the mix.
The Belgian climber took the reins of the group inside the last kilometer, while Healy was the first to launch his sprint inside the final 100 meters.
However, Paret-Peintre was quick to respond, overhauling his British rival to claim the first French victory in this edition, with Buitrago completing the top 3 of the stage ahead of Buitrago and Van Wilder, as Pogacar crossed the line 43’’ behind the winner of the day.
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