He attacked, he tried, he won hearts, That is the most important for a swansong
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"It’s really, really, really unique. When people make rankings of the best riders in history, Pinot won’t be there. But he’ll be remembered as one of the most real riders.”
I also thought for a brief shining moment he was actually going to do it. When he still had a gap on his chasers and Pog/Ving started looking at each other I thought "Are you kidding me?? Is this really going to happen?" But then poof; c'est la vie!What a day!
Of course I wanted Thibaut to win, and for a short moment I thought that he was going to do it. But I can't be disappointed: massive crowds gathered to see him one last time and thank him...and Tibopino showed up and thanked them. What a day!
Thibaut was Peter Pan, he didn't stand a chance against the two gators lurking one minute behind, but he went for it and gave it all. As often for him in Le Tour, it didn't work out, and in some sort of a weird way, it's a fitting end: Pinot won his biggest win today and it won't count as a win.
Merci Thibaut.
Pinot was 5th and King of the mountains at the 2023 Giro d'Italia. Won the queenstage up towards Malbun at the 2022 Tour de Suisse!
That's a fine farewell for someone who's career looked broken after his back injury. Look at Bouhanni, that puts things massively into perspective.
Pinot has gotten the results to retire proudly.
That sounds mildly threatening, maybe one shouldn’t visit that corner then.People are gonna be hanging from the branches of that tree!
That sounds mildly threatening, maybe one shouldn’t visit that corner then.
He got a gift at the start:
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Thanks to Pinot for a great career.
Now, time to catch the train, and get home to the farm.
🐐
I doubt he's taking the train though.
I have been happy in cycling but I am relieved that it is stopping. Saturday is my last race, the Tour of Lombardy. Sunday, I have media meetings in Paris. Monday, I take the 7:20 a.m. train to go home. As I told our press officer, it’s the freedom train…
According to that article Ilmastro99 posted, he is!
Well... not until Monday, though. First the last bit of media stuff:
Maybe he'll go incognito: "I'm just an ordinary farmer, heading home."
If he really doesn't like the attention, then it doesn't seem too smart to tell everyone the exact time he's leaving.