The hard road to Mont Ventoux

Yesterday’s stage that finished atop Mont Ventoux was billed as an epic one, and it didn’t disappoint.

Anthony Tan, aka Tan Man, said in his Tour de France preview in our July edition, “This mountain leg comes off the back of the second rest day in Montpellier and in effect creates a double whammy. All riders react differently after a jour de repos, and secondly, it is unique in that out of the six mountain stages, it is the only one with just one major climb. Mont Ventoux, also known as Le Géant de Provence (The Beast of Provence), is divided into two parts: the first 10km through the forest to Chalet Reynard, and the final 5.7km to the observatory that overlooks the finish line.”

And while Pogacar was billed as the favourite, a much lesser-known rider, Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal Quick-Step, took line honours. No doubt his team would have been thrilled with the win, after the huge disappointment a couple of days ago when their star rider and leader, Remco Evenepoel, was forced to withdraw.

Paret-Peintre battled it out with Ben Healy of EF Education-EasyPost to claim the first French stage victory for this year’s race. It’s also the first French win at the summit of Ventoux for 23 years.

In their wake, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard duked it out, with the Danish climber and his teammates piling pressure on the Slovenian race leader. Pogacar managed to resist and eventually gained a few seconds on the line.

Here are some visual highlights from our mate Sirotti and the A.S.O. official shots.