Teams & Riders Thibaut Pinot discussion thread

[Brullnux]

Not a bad result for Pinot. He is by far the most improving rider this year. If he can get his ITT sorted out, he can be a serious GT contender on his new generation against Quintana, Bardet, Kelderman, Tejay etc. (all young next generation after Contador/Froome/Nibali)

Kelderman and Tejay but not Aru

 

[Jspear]

Hmmm....I was expecting his tt to be better. Anyone think I was expecting to much?

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Hmmm....I was expecting his tt to be better. Anyone think I was expecting to much?

Same here. I had him fourth in my pre-race predictions. But yesterday, when Thibaut found himself 3rd at 10 seconds, I was dreaming of a W. So I'm a bit disappointed. Having said that, it was a good week. Good descents, attacks, the ITT proved not suited to his diesel: he was 1'01" behind Bertie after 6.5km. Yikes. Tibopino's best result on the VaPV was a 9th place in '14 iirc, and that year his TdF wasn't too shabby . The three on the podium deserved to be there. It's cycling.

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

Hmmm....I was expecting his tt to be better. Anyone think I was expecting to much?

Same here. I had him fourth in my pre-race predictions. But yesterday, when Thibaut found himself 3rd at 10 seconds, I was dreaming of a W. So I'm a bit disappointed. Having said that, it was a good week. Good descents, attacks, the ITT proved not suited to his diesel: he was 1'01" behind Bertie after 6.5km. Yikes. Tibopino's best result on the VaPV was a 9th place in '14 iirc, and that year his TdF wasn't too shabby . The three on the podium deserved to be there. It's cycling.

Yah, I actually had him at 3rd when I heard Quintana was sick. Still decent showing from him.

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

Re:

Hmmm....I was expecting his tt to be better. Anyone think I was expecting to much?

Same here. I'm assuming that the presence of a wet descent didn't help him much (though apparently his time split at the top of the climb was not great either?).

 

[Cannibal72]

For all this talk about FDJ making their operation more professional, they still haven't managed to hire a DS to push a mechanic to push a rider. Poor.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

For all this talk about FDJ making their operation more professional, they still haven't managed to hire a DS to push a mechanic to push a rider. Poor.

Maybe Netserk can start a poll, so we can vote for Tibopino as the "moral winner" of the VaPV .

@Alexandre: 4th in July, I'll take it . He's still one notch behind Dawg-Bertie-Nairito...and getting a little better all the time...

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

For all this talk about FDJ making their operation more professional, they still haven't managed to hire a DS to push a mechanic to push a rider. Poor.

Maybe Netserk can start a poll, so we can vote for Tibopino as the "moral winner" of the VaPV .

@Alexandre: 4th in July, I'll take it . He's still one notch behind Dawg-Bertie-Nairito...and getting a little better all the time...

I would take Aru any day of the week in a GT, however, Pinot has clearly shown he is much more adept at one week racing than Aru. They should do pretty similar in July, but Aru's GC palmares is incredible at this point of his career. I know Giro-Vuelta is easier than the Tour, but even when he has bad days, he survives. I have my doubts about Pinot still about that

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

For all this talk about FDJ making their operation more professional, they still haven't managed to hire a DS to push a mechanic to push a rider. Poor.

Maybe Netserk can start a poll, so we can vote for Tibopino as the "moral winner" of the VaPV .

@Alexandre: 4th in July, I'll take it . He's still one notch behind Dawg-Bertie-Nairito...and getting a little better all the time...

I would take Aru any day of the week in a GT, however, Pinot has clearly shown he is much more adept at one week racing than Aru. They should do pretty similar in July, but Aru's GC palmares is incredible at this point of his career. I know Giro-Vuelta is easier than the Tour, but even when he has bad days, he survives. I have my doubts about Pinot still about that

I agree. Aru has proven himself in multiple GT's, while Pinot has only been really consistent in 1 GT.
I hope Pinot can show he's capable of riding another good GT this year though.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

For all this talk about FDJ making their operation more professional, they still haven't managed to hire a DS to push a mechanic to push a rider. Poor.

Maybe Netserk can start a poll, so we can vote for Tibopino as the "moral winner" of the VaPV .

@Alexandre: 4th in July, I'll take it . He's still one notch behind Dawg-Bertie-Nairito...and getting a little better all the time...

I would take Aru any day of the week in a GT, however, Pinot has clearly shown he is much more adept at one week racing than Aru. They should do pretty similar in July, but Aru's GC palmares is incredible at this point of his career. I know Giro-Vuelta is easier than the Tour, but even when he has bad days, he survives. I have my doubts about Pinot still about that

Aru may not be more talented than Pinot (I think they are equal, maybe climbing wise slightly to Aru, purely for that MTT up Monte Grappa) but his mental resilience is second to none. Honestly, this guy was almost gone up the Mortirolo and still finished just a couple of minutes down, then took the stage to Cervinia. He is strong.

 

[Taxus4a]

Re: Re:

For all this talk about FDJ making their operation more professional, they still haven't managed to hire a DS to push a mechanic to push a rider. Poor.

Maybe Netserk can start a poll, so we can vote for Tibopino as the "moral winner" of the VaPV .

@Alexandre: 4th in July, I'll take it . He's still one notch behind Dawg-Bertie-Nairito...and getting a little better all the time...

I would take Aru any day of the week in a GT, however, Pinot has clearly shown he is much more adept at one week racing than Aru. They should do pretty similar in July, but Aru's GC palmares is incredible at this point of his career. I know Giro-Vuelta is easier than the Tour, but even when he has bad days, he survives. I have my doubts about Pinot still about that

I agree. Aru has proven himself in multiple GT's, while Pinot has only been really consistent in 1 GT.
I hope Pinot can show he's capable of riding another good GT this year though.

The difference between Giro and Vuelta and le Tour is huge, especially if you dont have the best team in le Tour. I am sure that Pinot focused just in Giro.Vuelta woudl have beated Aru.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Re: Re:

For all this talk about FDJ making their operation more professional, they still haven't managed to hire a DS to push a mechanic to push a rider. Poor.

Maybe Netserk can start a poll, so we can vote for Tibopino as the "moral winner" of the VaPV .

@Alexandre: 4th in July, I'll take it . He's still one notch behind Dawg-Bertie-Nairito...and getting a little better all the time...

I would take Aru any day of the week in a GT, however, Pinot has clearly shown he is much more adept at one week racing than Aru. They should do pretty similar in July, but Aru's GC palmares is incredible at this point of his career. I know Giro-Vuelta is easier than the Tour, but even when he has bad days, he survives. I have my doubts about Pinot still about that

I agree. Aru has proven himself in multiple GT's, while Pinot has only been really consistent in 1 GT.
I hope Pinot can show he's capable of riding another good GT this year though.

The difference between Giro and Vuelta and le Tour is huge, especially if you dont have the best team in le Tour. I am sure that Pinot focused just in Giro.Vuelta woudl have beated Aru.

The question is why didn't he? It is better to win some than be 1st loser in TDF

 

[Valv.Piti]

He is French and is riding for FDJ, Vuelta and Giro can't really be compared marketable-wise to the Tour, so thats the obvious reasons.

 

[Tonton]

Tirreno was the first big race for Tibopino. Had the only mountain stage not being cancelled, IMO he would have won the whole thing. The TdR is the second rendez-vous. I'm very confident that Thibaut will podium. Stage win, better GC placing than "podium", we'll see. Since the pre-GDL races, he's been there in the mix every single time.

 

[Jspear]

A podium will be tough for him. My guess is 4th place overall, no stage win. We shall see.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

A podium will be tough for him. My guess is 4th place overall, no stage win. We shall see.

4th place! Not again ! I didn't watch the stage, but looking at the times, pretty good ITT today. Losing 6" on TD isn't bad (1" per km on the top of the crop, I'll take it), and he gained time on Nairito and others.Feeling good tonight.

 

[Jspear]

He did a good race today, not taking away from it at all. But...Not every GC guy had the same conditions. For instance things were pretty bad (weather) for Froome and Spilak.

Every second will count. Good start for him.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

He did a good race today, not taking away from it at all. But...Not every GC guy had the same conditions. For instance things were pretty bad (weather) for Froome and Spilak.

Every second will count. Good start for him.

Sign of God, my friend, sign of God .

 

[Tonton]

4th in the GC... ...not again ! The team did good, Thibaut hesitated to go after Nairito. The FDJ train worked at the Criterium International, but here the competition was much better. Brave solo effort to keep the gap at 13" or so, then Tibopino faded a little bit. Still, a decent stage.

Tomorrow's ITT will be HUGE! The profile looks like a smaller version of the Pais Vasco's ITT. Only 5km to get in the rythm: I hope the diesel gets going quickly. Or Quintana will increase the gap...big time.

The second mountain stage is good for him too, at least on the paper. By then, he'll know who the direct competition is. And by then I'm afraid that Quitana will be out of reach...which could help him attack without Nairo feeling obligated to chase.

It's going to be interesting...

 

[carolina]

Í was a bit disappointed, but since there's a ITT tomorrow, maybe he didn't want to waste too much energy just to save a few seconds.

Very impressed by FDJ's work.

 

[Jspear]

With Froome out of the picture Pinot could podium. He'll still have to watch out for Izagirre and maybe even Spilak.

 

[Alexandre B.]

I
Am
Ecstatic

 

[LaFlorecita]

Wow, great TT! Well done I think he'll be on the podium at the Tour

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

Wow, great TT! Well done I think he'll be on the podium at the Tour

You really think that he'll beat Contador?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Wow, great TT! Well done I think he'll be on the podium at the Tour

You really think that he'll beat Contador?

He'll be 2nd behind Contador, take it to the bank