Paret-Peintre denies Healy in thrilling stage 16 win

Valentin Paret-Peintre produced a late sprint to get past Ben Healy and claim a stunning win on stage 16 of the Tour de France.

After a thrilling battle up the Mont Ventoux, Healy looked set to claim his second win of this year’s Tour as he led going round the final bend.

But Paret-Peintre, 24, fought back on the summit finish to deny the Irishman a famous victory on what is one of the Tour’s most iconic climbs.

Jonas Vingegaard repeatedly attacked Tadej Pogacar on the climb but finished sixth fractionally after the Slovenian, meaning the reigning champion increased his overall lead – which is more than four minutes – by two seconds.

Healy’s late effort was enough for the 24-year-old EF Education-EasyPost rider, who claimed his first Tour win on stage six and spent two days in the yellow jersey, to leapfrog Carlos Rodriguez to ninth overall.

It was a first Tour win for Paret-Peintre, who is the first Frenchman to claim a stage on this year’s Tour and the third Soudal Quick-Step rider to win, after Tim Merlier (two) and Remco Evenepoel.

He said: “How I won that stage is hard to say. I was thinking ‘maybe I can win today, maybe I’m the best climber in this breakaway’.

“I asked my team-mates to make a good pace at the bottom and I tried so many times to drop Healy but he was very strong and at the end, I was just waiting for the sprint.”

Evenepoel was forced to abandon the race during stage 14 and there was another high-profile withdrawal before Tuesday’s stage, with former yellow jersey holder Mathieu van der Poel unable to start after being diagnosed with pneumonia.

There was a six-man breakaway as the riders began climbing, with the peloton more than six minutes adrift, and Enric Mas went clear of Julian Alaphilippe and Thymen Arensman.

Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike team-mates took turns to push the pace in the peloton and, with Pogacar getting isolated from his team-mates early in the climb, Vingegaard launched three attacks, but each time the three-time Tour winner stayed on the Dane’s wheel.

Up the road, Healy and Paret-Peintre managed to catch Mas about 3.5km from the line and the trio got engaged in a tactical stalemate, allowing Santiago Buitrago to join them and set up a gripping final 2km.

After Mas faded, Ilan van Wilder suddenly charged into the lead inside the final kilometre and signalled for team-mate Paret-Peintre to follow.

And although Healy kicked first in the final 250m, Paret-Peintre had enough left in the tank to snatch victory.

Pogacar mounted one late attack and, although Vingegaard stuck to his wheel, the Slovenian then managed to sprint to the line to gain two seconds on the two-time Tour winner.