The French climber finished ninth on the last summit finish of the race.
The organisers were forced to re-design the course of Friday’s stage and take out the first climb of the day, but the route remained a difficult one, despite being shortened to just 93 kilometers. The action was sparked early, and one of the first to roll the dice was Soudal Quick-Step’s Valentin Paret-Peintre. On the steep ramps of Col du Pré, the Frenchman had to dig deep in order to put some daylight between him and the yellow jersey group, but he managed to do that thanks to an incredible tenacity, joining the original leaders and making it three men at the front.
They continued to press on as the road to the top of Cormet de Roselend started, and somehow maintained their small advantage over the chasers. There, the Mont Ventoux winner attacked the other two and opened a small gap, but they came back before the summit. On the descent, the 24-year-old Frenchman took off, only for the chasers to bridge across again. In the valley, Paret-Peintre was caught by the peloton, but managed to remain there and start La Plagne – which returned at Le Tour after 23 years – with the main group.
Despite losing contact with them some ten kilometers from the finish, Valentin didn’t give up and put in a superb climbing effort all the way to the top, where he took a solid ninth place behind winner Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers). It was his seventh top ten of the season, and the best result of the day for the home nation on this last Alpine stage of the Tour de France.
“It was very hard from start to finish today. It was just 95 kilometers long, but à bloc the entire time. My legs were better than the day before, so I went on the attack and tied to show some nice things up the road. In the end, it was a top ten, and I’m satisfied with this result considering how difficult it was”, Valentin said at the finish.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
