THE RISE AND FALL OF THIBAUT PINOT

For over a week, France believed. You have to ask, deep down, did Thibaut Pinot believe as well? Pinot has had a complex relationship with his country’s biggest race. The heat of July, both literal and figurative, has always been too much for him. When he discovered the Giro d’Italia, a few years ago, he found a race which suited his mentality, and for several seasons Italy has been his focus, and his comfort zone. However, in 2019, Pinot came back to the Tour de France in the shape to do himself justice, following DNFs in 2016 and 2017, and a DNS in 2018.

Whatever has changed since then, it worked. Pinot was one of the defining personalities of the 2019 race, and he influenced the race as much as anybody. He was up there with Geraint Thomas and Julian Alaphilippe on his ‘home’ climb, La Planche des Belles Filles. He attacked with Alaphilippe, memorably, into Saint-Étienne. And in the Pyrenees, he was the best climber in the race, with a prestigious stage win on the Tourmalet. He was talked of as a potential winner of the race - all he had to do was climb in the Alps as he had in the Pyrenees.

But there is always a ‘but’ with Pinot. He and his team were caught out in the crosswinds of Albi - a jolting reality check - and the dream finally crumbled with a freak leg injury which put him out in the Alps, in tears. Pinot deserved better than a third consecutive DNF at the Tour, given that he had made the weather in the race especially during the Pyrenean weekend. More important than the result, however, he’s said he’s rediscovered his love for the Tour. For a rider like Pinot, who seems to thrive on good morale and support (and conversely suffers when they are not there), that may be enough to propel him very close to a yellow jersey.