MONT VENTOUX, France — Valentin Paret-Peintre triumphed on Mont Ventoux to become the first home rider to win a stage at this year’s Tour de France, while Tadej Pogačar consolidated his overall lead Tuesday.Paret-Peintre finished just ahead of former leader Ben Healy in a sprint for the line at the top of the famed mountain known as the “Beast of Provence.”Santiago Buitrago was third, 4 seconds behind, ahead of Paret-Peintre’s teammate Ilan Van Wilder and fifth-placed Pogačar, who withstood repeated attacks from Jonas Vingegaard to cross the line 2 seconds before his main rival.Pogačar stretched his overall lead to 4 minutes, 15 seconds over the Danish rider. Vingegaard won the Tour in 2022 and 2023 but seems powerless to stop Pogačar from achieving his fourth win when the race finishes next weekend in Paris.After the Tour’s second rest day Monday, Stage 16 took the riders 171.5 kilometers from Montpellier in the south of France on a long flat course until they reached the brutal climb up Ventoux.Mathieu van der Poel, who had been third in the points classification, withdrew before Tuesday’s stage with pneumonia.Wout van Aert, the last winner when the rou …
