The Frenchman finished just outside the podium in Orcières-Merlette, where the race returned after six years.
Valentin Paret-Peintre enjoyed a strong day at the front of the Tour de France Thursday, scoring lots of points on all of the day’s five classified climbs, which cemented his second place in the KOM classification and brought him within one point of leading the prestigious ranking.
Orcières-Merlette, where Luis Ocaña took a memorable victory in 1971, putting more than eight minutes into Eddy Merckx, was the first of the three consecutive summit finishes scheduled on the last week of the Grande Boucle. Before the showdown on its iconic slopes, the main story of the day was the fight between Valentin and Richard Carapaz (EF Educations-Easy Post) for the points that were up for grabs on the first four ascents.
Soudal Quick-Step’s climber came out on top each time and cemented his place in the mountains standings ahead of the next two days, which will bring a total of eight climbs and plenty of points. On top of this, Valentin was still able to finish close to the podium, in fourth place, after a day with an elevation gain of 4000 meters, which they rode at an average speed of more than 42km/h.
I did my best and gave everything today.
- Valentin Paret-Peintre -
“It was a hard stage, and I’m not disappointed with not winning, because I know that I did my best. We went full gas from the beginning, which eventually took its toll on me in the closing kilometers of the stage. It was a good day at the front fighting for the polka dot jersey and I don’t have regrets. Now it’s important to recover and continue fighting for it in the next mountain stages”, Valentin said after his sixth top ten of the season.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
