At 23, Valentin Paret-Peintre scored the first victory of his career. The Haut-Savoyard didn’t believe it before turning around, 100 m from the line, and realizing the feat he accomplished. A first bouquet among the professionals at the top of Bocca della Selva to imitate his brother Aurélien, winner on the roads of the Tour of Italy, almost a year ago to the day. The youngest of the siblings produced a masterpiece worthy of his talent by catching up with Jan Tratnik 3 km from the line before dropping him off to take off solo. Behind, Romain Bardet and Tratnik complete the podium.
Present in today’s breakaway, the Decathlon-AG2R rider left 12 km from the finish with Bardet to catch up with the Slovenian who was in the lead with more than a minute in advance. But the Visma-Lease a Bike rider managed his climb well by showing his riding skills, screwed into his saddle, eyes glued to his computer. He maintained his lead until Paret-Peintre and Bardet changed gear to pounce on the Slovenian, who is certainly not renowned for his climbing skills but who has already finished 2nd at the top of the terrible Monte Zoncolan in 2021.
The two Frenchmen got closer to the Slovenian, who stumbled on the last ramps. But while he still had around twenty seconds on the French duo, Paret-Peintre placed a sharp attack 3 km away to pounce on Tratnik. The Slovenian did not have the same legs as his compatriot in pink and left the Haut-Savoyard to write the most beautiful page in his history with the earth and sky bib shorts. Second ahead of the Visma-Lease a Bike rider, Bardet did not have the energy, the day after the rest day, to follow the 23-year-old rider. But he did well by gaining seven places overall to enter the top 10 (7th, 4’57” behind Pogacar).
Decathlon-AG2R on its cloud
The two Frenchmen took advantage of a well-stocked breakaway (26 riders at the front) to play their card in the climb with a 5-minute lead over the peloton led by Bahrain Victorious. Let go by the acceleration of the pace at the front, Julian Alaphilippe appeared weakened after going back and forth with the medical car before finishing freewheeling more than 25 minutes behind Paret-Peintre. The Frenchman wanted to be reassuring at the finish to dispel doubts while several runners left the race this Tuesday morning because of a virus, including sprinter Olav Kooij, winner of the 9th stage.
Fifth, Aurélien Paret-Peintre is the third Frenchman in the top 5 of the day while Ben O’Connor settled the sprint for the pink jersey group. A dream day for the Savoyard team which signs its 15th victory of the season. The Australian retains 4th place (3’39”) while Filippo Zana climbs to 9th place (5’23”). Tadej Pogacar was content to follow the wheels of his competitors and lost no time overall.
