Valentin Paret-Peintre won stage 16 of the Tour de France, defeating Ben Healy on Mont Ventoux. This victory marked his first win of the 2025 Tour and his first WorldTour victory since the 2024 Giro d'Italia. Paret-Peintre fended off Tadej Pogačar, who aimed for his fifth stage win, demonstrating his remarkable skill and determination. Teammate Ilan Van Wilder provided crucial last-minute support, highlighting the resilience of Soudal-QuickStep following the earlier abandonment of team leader Remco Evenepoel. Paret-Peintre expressed surprise and gratitude for his unexpected win.
"It's amazing, but it certainly wasn't the plan [for me to win]", the Frenchman said afterwards. "I really thought Pogačar would want to win and he'd tie down the stage to do that."
"So I didn't believe in it too much, but I told myself that if there was a big group ahead, why not get in it?"
"But when I told myself that today was a good day for the break, I wasn't really thinking too hard about the win."
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