Teams & Riders Thibaut Pinot discussion thread

[Pinot's goat]

Gaudu really comes off as a little crybaby. It's not like FDJ can bring a lot of other climbers to support him.

I am sure Gaudu has previously said he wants Pinot on the TDF team. I interpret his comments as him being told not to comment on the situation since Madiot is probably getting annoyed at all the comments asking him to choose Pinot from the public. Won't look good if Pinot is not selected and Gaudu is doing interviews saying that he wants Pinot to be selected.

 

[Bolder]

I don't see how Pinot would help or hurt Gaudu, who will be lucky to finish fourth again. Let Pinot ride his own race in his likely final season; if it turns out that Gaudu is in a position to need a mountain domestique, I'm sure Pinot would help, just like Gaudu helped him in 2019.

I generally think Gaudu is a good, aggressive rider but yeah, he ought to say less or moderate what he says on social media. Not sure what he gets out of passive aggressive feud (at least it comes off that way, maybe not?) with arguably France's most popular rider ... and there was that spat with Demare earlier...

 

[RedheadDane]

I am sure Gaudu has previously said he wants Pinot on the TDF team. I interpret his comments as him being told not to comment on the situation since Madiot is probably getting annoyed at all the comments asking him to choose Pinot from the public.

Definitely the impression I'd gotten too.

 

[Tonton]

Gaudu said it in l'Equipe a few days ago: maybe it's now or never. The likes of Almeida and Ayuso will only get better. David is right: he needs a team 100% focused on his GC quest. Behind his boyish looks, Gaudu is ruthless. He doesn't want Démare, and knows that Pinot won't be happy in a dom's role.

Madiot was on RMC a couple of days ago, and what I get is that he will wait until after the Dauphiné and he also mentioned a discussion with the sponsors. We don't have to guess: Groupama and FDJ want Thibaut. Sorry Gau-dude...that's how it's going to be unless he wins the Dauphiné or loses by mere seconds to Vingo and GFC decides to go all-in on David. So the pressure is on for him to deliver this week. But even then, public pressure and the sponsors make it a 95% chance that we'll see a feisty Tibopino in July.

The '22 experiment, the happy medium didn't work out, but Thibaut looks stronger now than he was then, and the route offers opportunities: on Bastille Day, the stage ends with Grand Colombier via Culoz where Pinot won several times in the past. Then he can take a semi day off and support Gaudu on stage 15. Then give it a shot on stage 17 and help on stage 20. The tricky one could be early on, the Puy is too big of a prize to ignore. Maybe we'll have a remake of Anquetil-Poulidor .

I think that the relationship between Gaudu and the team will suffer big time. But if David can't wait another year, and work on his ITT (which is a must for him to be competitive in a GT), he can go to Ineos for all I care.

 

[pastronef]

....
I think that the relationship between Gaudu and the team will suffer big time. But if David can't wait another year, and work on his ITT (which is a must for him to be competitive in a GT), he can go to Ineos for all I care.

we'll need to have people put on suicide watch if Gaudu signs for Ineos hehe
jokes aside, it's obvious the sponsors want both of them. and it's perfectly fine. I think they should bring both, and the road will decide (but Pinot comes out of a long hard Giro, I don't think he needs to be a protected rider. and if Pinot is in the breakaways, FDJ won't have to work)

 

[Mayomaniac]

Yeah, all in on Gaudu only makes sense if he's actually on Vingegaard's level or really close in the Dauphine. That said, I also wouldn't mind to see Pinot do Vuelta + Italian autumn classics as his 2nd season goal. Pinot might be the only one who can potentially be there with him in the high mountains, so I think he kinda needs him on the team (mainly for the multi-mountain stages).

 

[Valv.Piti]

Always surprised me how riders with absolutely no chances of winning the race can act this entitled and expect a team of 7 loyal teammates who does nothing else than support you through 3 weeks.

You obviously bring Demare and Pinot as well and let them have their shots.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Always surprised me how riders with absolutely no chances of winning the race can act this entitled and expect a team of 7 loyal teammates who does nothing else than support you through 3 weeks.

You obviously bring Demare and Pinot as well and let them have their shots.

Pretty much this, unless he suddenly wins the Dauphine by dropping Vingegard one on one. Not to mention the fact that they don't even have that many climbers who could support him at the Tour. He gets Geniez, Storer (is he healthy? I can't see him being on any provisional startlists) and Madouas, their neopros are all not ready to ride the Tour. Leaves some space for the rest.

 

[tobydawq]

Pretty much this, unless he suddenly wins the Dauphine by dropping Vingegard one on one. Not to mention the fact that they don't even have that many climbers who could support him at the Tour. He gets Geniez, Storer (is he healthy? I can't see him being on any provisional startlists) and Madouas, their neopros are all not ready to ride the Tour. Leaves some space for the rest.

Geniez?

Edit: Ah, obviously you mean Geniets.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Geniez?

Edit: Ah, obviously you mean Geniets.

Yeah, I got them mixed up.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Pretty much this, unless he suddenly wins the Dauphine by dropping Vingegard one on one. Not to mention the fact that they don't even have that many climbers who could support him at the Tour. He gets Geniez, Storer (is he healthy? I can't see him being on any provisional startlists) and Madouas, their neopros are all not ready to ride the Tour. Leaves some space for the rest.

Yeah, which he doesn't. Good news is he was really good at P-N, but I've always though about Gaudu that Romain Bardet is about his peak. Really good rider who potentially can get a podium or two, or if he gets extremely lucky, fluke an incredibly weak TdF. But so can a lot of guys. But hes in that field of Hindley, Landa, Carapaz Mas etc. and its pretty hard to separate them. And then you have all the INEOS guys, and I wouldn't sleep on either C Rod or Egan at this point. I'd probably rank Gaudu in the lower half of those riders, so a 6th-8th should be around what we can expect.

He got 4th last year due to different factors: he was really good at managing his efforts and his team provided him superb support while the riders he were competing against were pretty mediocre to be honest. Gaudu wasn't really good at any point, he was just consistently slightly above mediocre and was rewarded with super smart racing.

Edit: And then he's acting like a little spoiled brat. What nonsense honestly. He's a pretty dull rider, so definitely not one I'll be rooting for, especially not seeing as how he publicly says all this crap about his teammates!

 

[RedheadDane]

Gaudu said it in l'Equipe a few days ago: maybe it's now or never. The likes of Almeida and Ayuso will only get better. David is right: he needs a team 100% focused on his GC quest. Behind his boyish looks, Gaudu is ruthless. He doesn't want Démare, and knows that Pinot won't be happy in a dom's role.

I thought Pinot had said that after he felt liked he'd wasted time (unsuccessfully) stagehunting last year, he was ready to dedicate his effort fully to Gaudu this year.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

To be fair to Gaudu, this year could be his best chance ever to reach the podium in the Tour. He's definitely in the mix of riders who could get the 3rd place if everything works out perfectly.

 

[Salvarani]

I thought Pinot had said that after he felt liked he'd wasted time (unsuccessfully) stagehunting last year, he was ready to dedicate his effort fully to Gaudu this year.

Thats then, and now is now.

Pinot is better than last year. He has better form. He will/should get a free role to try and go for a stage or KOM, if he goes.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Gaudu needs a 2014 scenario to happen to have the probablity of winning. Pinot is a very good climber. If Gaudu is not winning or crashes out, Pinot can help salvage the TDF with a stage win. If he is winning, Pinot will be invaluable. They don't have any other at that level. So taking Pinot to the TDF is a no brainer

 

[Sciatic]

To be fair to Gaudu, this year could be his best chance ever to reach the podium in the Tour. He's definitely in the mix of riders who could get the 3rd place if everything works out perfectly.

Yeah, and I think it could be a bit of a crapshoot as to which of the 2nd tier group (Mas, Carapaz, Hindley, Gaudu, Bernal, &) grabs a podium spot. I think one could get a decent time gap on the others if one manages a long-range get away and not get chased while the others stay in the Jumbo-UAE lead group (a la Carapaz, but this is less likely) or one of them hangs one of the times the big two go thermonuclear and gains several minutes as a result.

 

[Valv.Piti]

To be fair to Gaudu, this year could be his best chance ever to reach the podium in the Tour. He's definitely in the mix of riders who could get the 3rd place if everything works out perfectly.

Sure, if everything goes absolutely perfect, he's on the podium. Congrats

If everything goes to *** he crashes on stage 1, and then you really need ridesr who can do something on their own. If he has an average race, he's probably 6th without playing a big role in the race. Then you still want chances of stage wins and maybe polkadots!

 

[Mayomaniac]

Gaudu needs a 2014 scenario to happen to have the probablity of winning. Pinot is a very good climber. If Gaudu is not winning or crashes out, Pinot can help salvage the TDF with a stage win. If he is winning, Pinot will be invaluable. They don't have any other at that level. So taking Pinot to the TDF is a no brainer

And even then he isn't Nibali like head and shoulders above the rest, there'd be like 5 guys potentially fighting for the win on rather even footing.
Frankly, it's hard to demand full and total support from the team in a gt if you have never podiumed a gt before.

 

[BR2]

I think with this route Gaudu has a good shot of a podium spot, which should mean a lot to a French team. Also, Pogacar likely won't be at his best, and who knows if Vingegaard doesn't crash or get sick, it can always happen. So as Groupama I would likely do a lot to get him real good support.
That being said the feud with Demare really didn't shine the best light on him and I don't get this statement now, whatever it means. Why not just say "the team will decide", done? Why these José vibes?
I don't feel like supporting him as a fan, so I hope Pinot gets what's best for him, which in my eyes is the Vuelta.

PS: In general I am not a fan of this "mentor riding" from soon to retire riders. Either you race in full or you retire immediately, that's my preference.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Hopefully Pinot will just straight up ignore the lil crybaby on the mountain stages and go for glory. Double KOM jersey would be epic!

 

[RedheadDane]

Gaudu needs a 2014 scenario to happen to have the probablity of winning. Pinot is a very good climber. If Gaudu is not winning or crashes out, Pinot can help salvage the TDF with a stage win. If he is winning, Pinot will be invaluable. They don't have any other at that level. So taking Pinot to the TDF is a no brainer

I think Gaudu is very unlikely to win the whole thing, but a podium isn't outside the realm of possibilities.

If everything goes to *** he crashes on stage 1, and then you really need ridesr who can do something on their own.

In 2020 Pinot and Gaudu were supposed to share GC leadership - though maybe with Pinot ahead in the hierarchy - but then of course they both crashed on stage 1...

 

[Red Rick]

Hopefully Pinot will just straight up ignore the lil crybaby on the mountain stages and go for glory. Double KOM jersey would be epic!

"Not now David I gotta go EF riders up the road" but in French

 

[Valv.Piti]

"Not now David I gotta go EF riders up the road" but in French

"I also used to be a leader on this team in this race, and I usually failed pretty miserably for various reasons, so now its your turn".

 

[Tonton]

Thats then, and now is now. Pinot is better than last year. He has better form. He will/should get a free role to try and go for a stage or KOM, if he goes.

Exactly. Thibaut may have had the best of intentions, but Il Giro changed everything. This is the best Pinot since the crash and he's presented with a unique opportunity: he can say goodbye to the Tour with his head held high.

 

[RedheadDane]

This is the best Pinot since the crash and he's presented with a unique opportunity: he can say goodbye to the Tour with his head held high.

I hope so, but... you see; I've developed this, level of worry when it comes to Pinot. You just never know! He was pretty good in 2019, and we all know how that ended...