Valentin Paret-Peintre waited more than two seasons for his first pro win but when it came it was a doozy. The 23-year-old French climber in his third year on Decathlon-Ag2r la Mondiale soloed clear of his breakaway companions to win the 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia atop the Bocca della Selva climb.
Paret-Peintre joined a mid-race break of 25 riders that swept up the day's early move and then counterattacked on the final climb with less than 3 km to ride to overhaul leader Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike) and solo in for the win. Behind, Bahrain Victorious and UAE Team Emirates did most of the pacemaking in a dwindling group of favorites, but despite attempts from Bahrain's Antonio Tiberi and then Decathlon's Ben O'Connor, no one could shake race leader Tadej Pogačar, who easily kept his overall lead.
No rest after the rest day
- The relatively short (142 km) stage was aggressive from the start, with multiple attacks going until a three-rider move with Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco-AlUla), Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech), and Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck) went clear. But the pack seemed ill at ease with the situation, continuing to fire off a series of moves that ultimately led to a 25-rider chase group with such names as DSM Firmenich-PostNL's Romain Bardet, Julian Alaphilippe and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-Quick Step), and Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe).
- With just four teams not represented in the break, the big move quickly took time on an uninterested chase, catching the three leaders and summarily dispatching Hermans and then Clarke. More dropped off on an uncategorized climb to the intermediate sprint.
- On the 18 km ascent to Bocca della Selva, the attrition continued as Tratnik opted to go clear alone. The Slovenian quickly forged a gap of as much as a minute but on the steepest section of the climb, the final 6 km, Paret-Peintre and Bardet broke clear (with some apparent jawing between them) of their companions, and it was Paret-Peintre who eventually crossed the gap alone to solo in. Bardet caught and passed Tratnik as well for second.
- Behind, Bahrain continued to force the pace, but an acceleration by Tiberi came to naught and a select group of favorites led by Ag2r's Ben O'Connor crossed the line 3:14 behind Paret-Peintre. A few riders were unable to hold the pace, with Visma's Cian Uijtdebroeks dropping off in the final kilometer as well as Ineos Grenadiers' Thymen Arensman. None of the time losses was significant, but Arensman dropped a couple of spots on GC.
[race_result id=13 stage_id=79123 count=10 gc=0] [race_result id=13 stage_id=79123 count=10 gc=10]
Brief analysis
- This may be Paret-Peintre's first pro win, but he served notice of rising form at April's Tour of the Alps, where he finished fourth overall. His win also comes just over a year after his older brother, Aurélien, won stage 4 of the 2023 Giro, outlasting a breakaway and, coincidentally, beating a DSM rider, to win atop Lago Laceno.
- If it's the Giro, a mid-race break is likely to be a winner. For the third time in 10 stages, a mid-race move met with success. Aggressive racing in the early kilometers of stages has led to a relatively fast catch of the initial breakaway, and the counters that inevitably follow mean riders are somewhat fresher than if they'd spent all day out front trading pulls. So far, through almost half the race, we've seen three stages won by the mid-race break, three for sprinters (including just barely), and three from late-race moves. The 10th was the individual time trial. Pogačar himself may have the overall in a stranglehold, but on a day-to-day basis the racing has been suspenseful.
- Speaking of sprinters, this Giro field was packed with them, and several opted to ship out after the rest day. Visma's stage 9 winner, Olav Kooij, Astana-Qazaqstan's Max Kanter, and Ethan Vernon of Israel-Premier Tech all went home before stage 10. Kooij is reportedly sick, and after Covid-19 caused major roster upheaval for Visma in 2023 they're understandably keen to avoid a repeat. There are still a bunch of fast finishers left, and outside of Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Soudal-Quick Step's Tim Merlier, none have yet won a stage.
- We may have seen something of a changing of the guard at Bahrain. In years past it would have been Damiano Caruso sitting in patient and protected in the group of GC contenders, but today the 36-year-old hit the front on the final climb to set up Tiberi's move. With Tiberi recently signing a contract extension, it's clear that the Bahrain team has identified him as a likely GC contender for this year and the future.
I saw that the last 4 km was the hardest, so I said 'Ok, if I want to attack it’s in the last 4 km,' so I was waiting waiting waiting for all the last climb.
Valentin Paret-Peintre on the patience that led to his first pro win
Up next
While some sprinters opted to leave the race on the first rest day, those still in the field will get another shot at the win on stage 11. A 207 km route from Foiano di val Fortore to Francaville al mar starts with some climbing but nothing major and is almost totally flat for the last 100 km. Something tells me we won't see a repeat of Alpecin-Deceuninck's aggressive racing on sprint stages, as they'll need a new tactic to get Kaden Groves in position to win.
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