Valentin Paret-Paintre's triumph at the top of Mont Ventoux

Exciting finish for the 16th stage of the Tour de France 2025 at the top of Mont Ventoux where, after a festival of attacks and counterattacks, the Frenchman from Soudal-QuickStep, Valentin Paret-Peintre, surged ahead on a day where Enric Mas came close to victory and Jonas Vingegaard tried everything to drop Tadej Pogacar, although both without achieving the desired success.

Enric Mas bet on winning at Mont Ventoux but couldn't resist the push from Healy and Paret-Paintre

An unusual stage to start the third week of the Tour de France 2025 with a route of 171.5 kilometers connecting Montpellier and the summit of the giant of Provence, Mont Ventoux, with a completely flat route until reaching the slopes of this mythical ascent. A design that aimed to create action in the predominant wind of the area, which today made its appearance with much less intensity than necessary to break the race.

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In all this, once again a tempting stage for the breakaway specialists who, with the general classification clarified, will have greater ease throughout this third week of the Tour de France to consolidate a breakaway that manages to reach the finish line.

36 cyclists finally made up the leading group with a UAE Team Emirates-XRG that was limited to controlling with a powerful Nils Politt. A group that, as expected at this stage of the race, featured the most in-form names of the Tour, names already familiar in breakaways such as Wright, Arensman, Alaphilippe, Abrahamsen, Ben Healy, Santiago Buitrago, Benoot, Campenaerts, and an Enric Mas in his new approach of seeking stage wins after losing any chance of entering the top 10 of the general classification.

With just over 60 kilometers to go, the first major selection was made in this group with Trentin and Alaphilippe causing a split that left the selection at 7 cyclists, including Enric Mas, Fred Wright, Thymen Arensman, Abrahamsen, and Simone Velasco, who, thanks to the vigilance of their pursuers on Ben Healy, managed to open up a lead of more than a minute and a half. Meanwhile, the peloton definitively gave up and let the gap grow to 7 minutes.

This led to the start of Mont Ventoux and the first attacks among the leaders: Abrahamsen, Alaphilippe... moving and selecting the group, however, the best move would come from Enric Mas, who began to make his move on the toughest part of Mont Ventoux and seemed poised for a real victory in the Tour de France.

However, the Mallorcan did not count on the fact that behind him was a daredevil like Ben Healy, who gives his all regardless of who is on his wheel, without looking back, without asking for relays at every meter, and of course, when this happens with a cyclist as fit as the Irishman, what we saw happened: Enric's lead began to slowly but steadily decrease, and despite reaching Chalet Reynard, 6 kilometers from the finish line and where the inhuman ramps end to give way to the lunar landscape battered by the wind that has made the image of Mont Ventoux iconic, with just over a minute's lead.

Meanwhile, behind them, a strong attack from Jonas Vingegaard but with the usual result in recent days, with Tadej Pogacar easily responding. The Dane would repeat the move after catching up to his companions, first Benoot and then Campenaerts, who launched him again to attack but, once again, without being able to break Pogacar's resistance, who even allowed himself to counterattack 4 kilometers from the finish line but also failed to drop the Visma-Lease a Bike rider.

In the lead, the duo formed by Ben Healy and Valentin Paret-Paintre, the only survivors of the chasing group, finally caught up with Enric Mas, who from then on, had to hold on as much as he could to their wheel. From this point on, an authentic festival of attacks began, without any consideration or measure between these two daring cyclists, with neither managing to harm the other.

Stops and starts that gave Enric Mas a glimmer of hope and allowed some more cyclists to catch up to them, such as a recovered Santiago Buitrago who was able to enjoy himself again after recovering from the fall he suffered in the first week. Also arriving was Van Wilder, who didn't hesitate to work for his teammate Valentin Paret-Paintre in the last kilometer, with Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard reducing the gap rapidly.

Healy made the final push, just before the last curve leading to a truly brutal ramp, although without enough punch to drop Valentin Paret-Paintre, who managed to overtake him in the last meters to claim victory on one of the most prestigious climbs of the Tour de France.

A few seconds later, Tadej Pogacar crossed the finish line, managing to gain a couple of seconds on Vingegaard, while in terms of the general classification, Florian Lipowitz reached the finish line alongside Primoz Roglic after managing to shake off Oscar Onley, which undoubtedly clarifies the podium battle in favor of the young cyclist from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.