Paret-Peintre defeats the man he has always admired (Bardet), while O'Connor's prediction came true

Valentin Paret-Peintre has long had one of the most beautiful names in the peloton. The 23-year-old Frenchman now, however, has something much more important to his name: his first pro victory! He achieved that with a strong solo effort in a mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia.

"I simply can't describe what I'm feeling right now," the young winner began his flash interview. "It's truly amazing. I came to this Giro hoping for some good results, but why not aim to win? And now it's happened. It's just fantastic."

"Now I've had the chance to compete against him and actually beat him": Paret-Peintre always looked up to Bardet and his achievements

The younger of the Paret-Peintre brothers ultimately defeated Romain Bardet, with whom he had been chasing Jan Tratnik for a long time. The dsm-firmenich PostNL veteran previously rode for Paret-Peintre's current team, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, and is also a fellow countryman. "I always looked up to Romain," said the youngster. "He has stood on the podium of the Tour de France. I dreamed of one day being able to race against or with him. And now I've had the chance to compete against him and actually beat him!"

"I saw in the route book that the last four kilometers were going to be the toughest," continued the winner. "I knew that if I wanted to attack, it had to happen in that zone. So, I waited, waited and waited some more. Then, when the finish line finally came into sight, I decided to attack." Another nice piece of news for Paret-Peintre: his older brother Aurélien also showed himself in the breakaway and eventually secured a top-ten finish. Even more reason for celebrations in the Paret-Peintre household!

O'Connor saw Paret-Peintre's win coming

Decathlon team leader Ben O'Connor, who himself crossed the line as the first top GC rider (excluding Bardet), was thrilled for his French teammate. "He really deserves this," he told Eurosport. "He's done a lot of work for me over the past few months and has given it his all multiple times. So, it's great to see him succeed, especially with his brother there too."

O'Connor then mentioned that he had a feeling the victory was coming. "I told a few guys before the start that the brothers would be in the breakaway and that one of them would win. And that's exactly what happened," said the smiling Aussie. "I felt pretty good myself. The last climb was a fast one, not really suitable for attacks. But I'm definitely happy with how things are going."