Paret-Peintre wins stage 16 as Pogacar keeps Tour de France lead

Valentin Paret-Peintre stayed ice-cool in the heat to give France its first win in this year's Tour de France as he prevailed atop the intimidating Mont Ventoux in the 16th stage on Tuesday.

The Soudal-Quick Step rider beat Ireland's Ben Healy in a lung-busting sprint finish on the Giant of Provence as Tadej Pogacar retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after keeping chief rival Jonas Vingegaard in his sights on the 21.5-km ascent at 7.5%.

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Overall, defending champion Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates extended his lead by two seconds to 4:15 after outsprinting the Dane in the final uphill straight.

The German Florian Lipowitz, who could not follow when Vingegaard attacked Pogacar some 9 km from the finish, stayed third, 9:03 off the pace, stretching his advantage over fourth-placed Briton Oscar Onley to 2:01.

Stage 17 should be one for the sprinters as Tim Merlier hopes to add to his two stage wins and current green jersey Jonathan Milan also targets a second win at the 700m straight run to the finish line at Valence.

The weather however could rewrite the script with 50kph winds forecast along the 170km run.