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