2023-05-19 18:42:57
His head buried under his handlebars, Thibaut Pinot tries to recover and hide his immense disappointment. The scene lasts almost two minutes. The image is strong, poignant. There are still a few good races left for the Groupama-FDJ rider before leaving the pelotons at the end of the year. But he knows that he missed a magnificent opportunity to win a great prestigious victory this Friday in Crans-Montana, during the first alpine stage, delayed and shortened to 74 km due to weather conditions.
Starting in the right breakaway, Thibaut Pinot played cat and mouse during the last ascent with the Ecuadorian Alexander Cepeda (Education-EasyPost). The two runners attacked each other constantly, without managing to let go. Pinot gave everything, he was strong but perhaps not strong enough to outrun his last two breakaway companions. This was seen during the sprint. If he managed to come back to Cepeda who had launched from very far, he could not respond to the Colombian Einer Rubio (Movistar). It was therefore the 3rd thief who took advantage of the marking and the rivalry between Pinot and Cepeda. Rubio proved to be the smartest. He hung on during the last climb, leaving Pinot and Cepeda to explain themselves, certainly leaving a lot of energy and influx.
Second, Thibaut Pinot therefore came very close to the second stage victory of his career in the Giro after that won at Asiago in 2017. He has not lifted his arms for eleven months and the 7th stage of the Tour de Suisse, June 18, 2022. Small consolation, he takes the jersey of best climber and goes back to the Top 10 (10th) in the general classification. But that means he will certainly have less freedom to try to escape in the next few days.
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