A flurry of numbers, statistics, and points of reflection from the sixteenth stage of the Tour de France.

27: FRANCE IS BACK!
Valentin Paret-Peintre is the first Frenchman to win in this Tour. He puts an end to a drought of 27 stages and 380 days, since Anthony Turgis won the 9th stage of the Tour 2024 in Troyes. Paret-Peintre claims his 3rd victory as a professional, always uphill after triumphs at Bocca della Selva (Giro 2024) and Jabal Al Akhdhar (Tour of Oman 2025).

60: FROM POULIDOR TO PARET-PEINTRE
Valentin Paret-Peintre conquers the 5th French victory on the legendary Mont Ventoux, 60 years after Raymond Poulidor's first in 1965 (14th stage, always starting from Montpellier). Then came Bernard Thévenet (1972, 14th stage), Jean-François Bernard (1987, 18th stage, time trial) and Richard Virenque (2002, 14th stage).

3: SOUDAL QUICK-STEP CAN WIN ANYWHERE!
It's the 4th victory for Soudal Quick-Step this year, something the team hadn't achieved since 2021. Valentin Paret-Peintre is also the 3rd different winner of the team, for the first time since the Tour 2015. Perhaps the most impressive thing is that the team managed to win two sprints (Tim Merlier in Dunkirk and Châteauroux), a time trial (Remco Evenepoel in Caen) and a mountain stage (Paret-Peintre today). This has never happened before!

4: HEALY THE FIGHTER
At just 24 years old, Ben Healy has been awarded the 4th combativity prize (Saint-Lary-Soulan last year; Vire Normandie, Le Mont-Dore and Mont Ventoux this year). Only one rider in the group, Wout Van Aert, has more (5). Second today, Healy secured his 3rd podium in this Tour after the victory in Vire Normandie and 3rd place in Le Mont-Dore. He is the first Irishman to achieve such a feat since Sam Bennett in 2020.

2002: QUICK-STEP, WHAT A STORY!
Valentin Paret-Peintre gifted Soudal Quick-Step an uphill victory, the second after the one conquered on the Ventoux in 2002 by Richard Virenque. It's the team's only HC summit victory until today! The Frenchman also obtained the team's first mountain stage victory since Julian Alaphilippe's triumphs in Bagnères-de-Luchon, Le Grand-Bornand (2018) and Nice (2020). But in those cases, the stage was mountainous but the finish was on flat ground.

25 YEARS: THE YOUNGEST VENTOUX PODIUM
Valentin Paret-Peintre, Ben Healy and Santiago Buitrago have an average age of 25 years and 30 days. This is the youngest stage podium of the Tour 2025 and also the youngest in the history of Mont Ventoux stage finishes! The previous record dates back to 1970 (26 years and 20 days for Eddy Merckx, Martin Van den Bossche and Lucien Van Impe).

3: TRIO OF NEW WINNERS
Valentin Paret-Peintre becomes the 862nd different Tour stage winner. After Thymen Arensman (stage 14) and Tim Wellens (stage 15), he is the 3rd consecutive new winner! Such a sequence had not occurred since stages 11 to 13 of the Tour 2022, won by Jonas Vingegaard, Tom Pidcock and Mads Pedersen.

3-7: COLOMBIA AND SPAIN ON THE RISE
Santiago Buitrago (3rd) secured the first stage podium for Colombia: the last was Fernando Gaviria's 3rd place in Dijon last year. Slightly further back, Enric Mas equaled Spain's best result, finishing 7th like his compatriot Ivan Romeo in Caen. The Spanish have not won for 44 stages, since Carlos Rodriguez's victory in Morzine in 2023.

21: POLKA DOT-GACAR
Tadej Pogacar takes the polka dot jersey from Lenny Martinez, who will wear it tomorrow since the Slovenian also holds the Yellow Jersey. The Slovenian becomes once again the group rider with the most polka dot jerseys, 21 against Tim Wellens' 20.

4: VAN WILDER, HIGHER THAN EVER
Ilan Van Wilder played a decisive role in his teammate Valentin Paret-Peintre's victory, accompanying him for part of the stage and the final climb. Finishing 4th, the Belgian recorded his first top-5 placement in a line stage of a grand tour. His only top-5 finish at this level was at the Vuelta 2022, but in a time trial.