BOCCA SELVA: On Tuesday, Frenchman Valentin launched a Paret Peintre attack on the final climb to win stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia. He celebrated with his brother Aurelien, who came fifth at the finish line.
Paret-Peintre overtook Slovenian Jan Tratnik, who had less than 3km left to race after Tratnik had launched a solo break from the leading group, which had more than 30km remaining.
I was there to get a good result on the stage, and why not win?
Now I have a stage win for my first professional win, Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale’s Paret-Peintre said.
The 142-km ride from Pompei to Cusano Mutri ended with an 18-km finishing climb at Bocca della Selva, and Team Visma-Lease a Bike’s Tratnik had to settle for third place.
The last four kilometers were the hardest, and I said, okay, if I want to attack, it’s in the previous four km, so I was waiting, waiting, waiting on the last climb, and when I saw the previous three km, I attacked,” Paret-Peintre said.
Romain Bardet (Team DSM-Firmenich) made it a French one-two.
He also went past Tratnik to come in 29 seconds behind the winner. He was rewarded for his efforts by advancing from 14th to seventh in the general classification.
Stage 10 came after Monday’s rest day, and while race leader Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates was happy to take it easy in the peloton, others grabbed their chance for glory, with a large group getting away from the main bunch.
Paret-Peintre and Bardet hunted down Tratnik during his solo attack, but their persistence foiled his brave effort as tiredness set in.
With three or four kilometers to go, I started to feel a bit of weakness in my legs, Tratnik said. I looked behind me, and they passed me with double speed, and then for me, it was just a battle to the finish line.”
Eighty kilometers into the race, the peloton caught Paret-Peintre four km from the finish. But this time, he managed to claim the victory, following in the footsteps of his older brother, who won a stage in the previous year’s Giro.
The 23-year-old said doing it one year after my brother was special. Last year, when he won his stage, my name was written by mistake on the bottle of champagne. This time, I’m the winner.
Slovenian Pogacar still holds a lead of two minutes 40 seconds over Colombian Daniel Felipe Martinez of Bora-Hansgrohe, with Ineos Grenadiers’ Welshman Geraint Thomas in third, 18 seconds further back.
