Paret-Peintre emulates brother with Stage 10 win as Pogacar cruises in pink

A day that started amid the Roman remains of Pompeii almost ended with a Romain Bardet victory. Instead, the French veteran found himself outclimbed by a younger, sprightlier compatriot who idolised him as a teenager.

That man, Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), took the first win of his burgeoning professional career in style with a memorable solo win in the third summit finish of the Giro d’Italia at Bocca di Selva, teaming up with Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) to dash the hopes of lone leader Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike) after the Slovenian’s gutsy long-range attack from the day’s breakaway.

Paret-Peintre’s maiden victory saw the 23-year-old emulate his older brother Aurelien, a stage winner at the 2023 Giro who also managed to infiltrate the 27-man move after a frantic opening hour of racing in the Campania region of southern Italy.

Brave Bardet crossed the line 30 seconds down in second place to move back into the top 10 of the general classification despite missing out on the chance of completing a clean sweep of stage victories in all three of cycling’s Grand Tours.

Italy’s Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) took fourth place before Paret-Peintre senior celebrated his brother’s win with a punch of the air as he led home the next group of escapees for fifth.

Paret-Peintre’s victory was a 15th of a stellar season for the revitalised Decathlon AG2A La Mondiale team, whose leader Ben O’Connor led a group of race favourites – including the pink jersey Tadej Pogacar – over the finish line over three minutes in arrears.

After a largely uneventful day in the saddle, Slovenia’s Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) kept his power dry to retain his 2:40 lead over Colombian Dani Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the standings with Welsh veteran Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) a further 18 seconds back in third and Australia’s O’Connor in fourth at 3:39.

Belgium’s Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike) retained the white jersey and protected his fifth place but dropped 13 seconds back to 4:15 after being caught out in a split in the closing moments of the decisive climb. Bardet rose seven places to seventh place at 4:57 while another Italian, Filippo Zana (Jayco-AlUla), also rose four places to ninth.