2023-10-06 11:43:44
Thibaut Pinot, 33, will end his career this Saturday, October 7 in Bergamo during the finish of the Tour of Lombardy, the last Monument of the season that the French climber won in 2018.
Published on: 06/10/2023 – 11:43
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It’s a story that began in 2010 and ends on Italian roads during the Tour of Lombardy, the last classic of the season. Thibaut Pinot is done with professional cycling. A career which has often resembled a path of the cross for the native of Franche-Comté, in eastern France. As during the 2019 Tour de France, when he got off his bike in tears to rush into his team’s car: he then suffered a muscle injury and saw his dream of becoming the first Frenchman since 1985 to win the Tour de France collapses. This July 26 will forever remain an indelible date.
The failures of Thibaut Pinot, a Greek tragedy
This abandonment, yet another twist in an athlete’s life rich in emotions, marks the French public. However, he was brilliant during the 14th stage, winning at the top of the Tourmalet in the Pyrenees. He did it again the next day on the climb of Prat d’Albis where he let go of the Colombian Egan Bernal (winner of the 2019 Tour de France, editor’s note) to finish second in the stage. The Alps stretch out their arms to him, the blow is severe. “ I believed it. After the Pyrenees, I felt I could do it “, he said in tears in front of the press.
Thibaut Pinot’s failures have often resembled a Greek tragedy. He finished the 2018 Tour of Italy in an ambulance, after the penultimate stage, suffering from the beginnings of pneumonia. “ Being a fan of Thibaut couldn’t always be easy. One time it’s all white, one time it’s all black. But it’s part of the character. That’s why people love him so much. He will leave a big void “, says his teammate David Gaudu.
A singular and timeless character, fleeing fame and its constraints to better return to his vegetable garden and his goats: that was Thibaut Pinot, thirty-three victories on the clock, most of them won by panache, including three stages of the Tour de France, two on the Vuelta and one on the Giro, as well as a Monument, the Tour of Lombardy, place of his farewell.
Thibaut Pinot during his victory at the top of Tourmalet in the Tour de France, July 20, 2019. AFP – ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT
Mister everyone
Doubts and fragilities have forged, through theatrical abandonments, followed by flamboyant rebirths, a strange popularity for Thibaut Pinot. During the last Tour de France, there were thousands cheering him in a “Pinot turn” created from scratch in his native Vosges. “ People recognize themselves in him because he remains simple and does not hide his emotions », underlined his father Régis at that time.
Thibaut Pinot has always hated the spotlight. The cameras, the chatter, very little for him. It’s the “ silence » and the “ tranquility » which he prefers. The one who describes himself as a little sauvage » et « shy », is always surprised by the public’s love. “ I always found that we were perhaps doing a little too much “. Thibaut Pinot remains a cycling enthusiast who does not need to be made a star. He is the opposite of those influencers who do not consider living in anonymity.
Thibaut Pinot leaves modern cycling made of data, of power curves, where we weigh our food to run to the millimeter, forgetting the spontaneity and instinct of autan races. “ Thibaut is a romantic lost in the 21st century “, says his manager, Marc Madiot.
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