Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) climbed to his first professional victory at Cusano Mutri on stage ten of the Giro d’Italia after catching Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike) with just three kilometres to spare.
Romain Bardet (dsm–firmenich PostNL) dug deep to take second place behind his fellow Frenchman and ex teammate as Tratnik took third. Paret-Peintre's win matched the achievement of his brother, Aurelien, who won a stage of the Giro last year.
The Frenchman had been part of the day's breakaway for much of the day but had to push hard in order to claim the win. Jan Tratnik launched an attack with 37 kilometres still to race and looked like he had done enough to seal the victory.
But Paret-Peintre wasn't done yet. The Decathlon rider dropped Bardet with three kilometres to the finish and soon caught and passed Tratnik before soloing to a memorable maiden win.
Meanwhile Tadej Pogačar successfully marked any attempts from his rivals to attack him in the closing kilometres and defended his lead in the maglia rosa. Bardet jumped up to seventh overall after his exploits in the breakaway.
Speaking post-stage, Paret-Peintre said that it was a dream to go head to head with Bardet, one of his idols, and to come out on top.
"I watched Bardet when I was young," he said. "When he finished on the podium at the Tour de France. I dreamed seeing him on TV and today I battled with him and beat him.
"I saw on the profile that the last four kilometres were the hardest and so I waited and waited on the last climb until I saw the last three kilometres, then I attacked."
How it happened
At the start of the day’s stage, there was a huge fight for the breakaway as many riders sensed a rare opportunity to get up the road and challenge for the stage win.
The riders faced 142 kilometres between Pompei and the summit finish at Bocca della Selva. Once the attacks started to come, it appeared that UAE Emirates, the team of the race leader Tadej Pogačar, were largely content with letting a group form and establish a lead.
With under 40 kilometres left to race to the finish, a huge breakaway had a lead of more than three and a half minutes over the peloton. Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek), Romain Bardet (dsm–firmenich PostNL) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) were all present, along with multiple other climbing specialists.
UAE Emirates were in control of the tempo in the peloton but appeared to be setting a steady, controlled pace as they looked to ensure Pogačar had a relatively easy day. Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) was present in the lead group for a large part of the day but dropped from the back after a lengthy chat with the race doctor’s car.
With 29 kilometres to go, Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike) made a move off the front of the lead group which livened up proceedings. Bardet was one of the first riders to respond as the riders tore towards the base of the climb to the finish. Bardet was joined by Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek), Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale).
Once Tratnik got onto the final climb, he showed no sign of relenting and quickly had a minute over the Bardet led chase group. With 14 kilometres left to race it looked like the Slovenian would win the stage although Paret-Peintre had other ideas.
The young Frenchman dropped Bardet with three kilometres to go and quickly caught and passed Tratnik before soloing to the line to seal the victory.
Results
Giro d’Italia 2024, stage ten: Pompei > Bocca della Selva (142 km)
1. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, in 03:43:50
2. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, at 29s
3. Jan Tratnik (Slo) Visma-Lease a Bike, at 01:01
4. Andrea Bagiolo (Ita) Lidl-Trek, at 01:18
5. Aurelien Paret-Peintre (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, at 01:25
6. Simon Geschke (Ger) Cofidis,
7. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco-AIUla,
8. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bardiani CSF-Faizane, at same time
9. Nicola Conci (Ita) Alpecin Deceuninck, at 01:41
10. Esteban Chaves (Col) EF Education-EasyPost at 01:56
General classification after stage ten
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 36:46:08
2. Daniel Martinez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 2:40
3. Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 2:58
4. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, at 3:39
5. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, at 4:15
6. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) bahrain Victorious, at 4:27
7. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, at 4:57
8. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan, at 5:19
9. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco-AIUla, at 5:23
10. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, at 5:52
