"I have to give my life to pass him and win" - Valentin Paret-Peintre ends 2025 French drought at Tour de France

Valentin Paret-Peintre is one of the riders who has evolved the most in the past two years and his metheoric rise towards the top of pro cycling continues as he became the first French stage winner at the 2025 Tour de France. But this didn't happen in just any location, but the mythical Mont Ventoux.

Soudal - Quick-Step suffered a massive setback with the withdrawal of Remco Evenepoel from the Grand Boucle, but in the bigger picture the Belgian team continues to rack up victories - today's was the fourth, after Evenepoel won the Caen time-trial and Tim Merlier won two bunch sprints.

Whilst it was expected that UAE Team Emirates - XRG would try to control the breakaway this Tuesday, the front group featured over 30 riders and this wasn't possible. Paret-Peintre was amongst those, and his Quick-Step teammates worked towards the climb to extend the gap to the peloton but mainly control the gap to a front group of 7 that included Thymen Arensman and Enric Mas.

"It's truly a team victory. We've had some difficult days with Remco Evenepoel's withdrawal. Now we can hold our heads high again," the the 24-year old said in a post-race interview. He had the difficult task of following Ben Healy up the final climb, both at pace and his many attacks in the final kilometers. But the pure climber did so, and in the final sprint, managed to beat the Irishman.

He praised teammate Ilan van Wilder who worked for him in the final kilometer to make sure Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard wouldn't be able to close the gap. "There was a lot of wind in the final, and the group with Pogacar quickly closed in. So it was good to pick up the pace again and keep some distance. That way I could focus on the sprint."

"I felt my legs were really good, that's why the team worked for me in that breakaway. It was difficult, I couldn't drop Healy. I knew the last 200 meters were very steep. I waited behind Healy and thought: in those final meters, I have to give my life to pass him and win. And that's what I did," he explains.

But a victory of this dimension is one that will take time to sink in, specially for a Tour de France debutant. "Honestly, I haven't fully grasped it yet. It's strange to win a stage in the Tour as a Frenchman, but even more so here on the Ventoux. I think I'll only truly grasp it tomorrow."