Teams & Riders Thibaut Pinot discussion thread

[Tonton]

Re:

Good performance today, he gave it a try and it was convincing to me.

I'll be hugely disappointed if Mollema finishes ahead of him in GC.
Now, to reach the podium he wants, it won't be easy. Nibali is not climbing better than him at the moment, but it's Nibali. Quintana will likely beat him on climbs, and Dumoulin - well, we'll see the multi-mountains stages.

Spot on.

Today was a good day for Il Grandissimo Tibopino. Good for morale: still a lot of climbing left. He'll beat Mollema IMO. For the podium, it could get dicey. Nairo is Nairo, Dumoulin has a huge lead, and with Nibali you never know. "All" he needs is to beat one of these three. He'll keep fighting. Next is Oropa.

 

[yaco]

Seemed like a pointless attack on the final climb - Maybe he wanted to show his strength.

 

[WheelofGear]

Anybody have the full video of the stage? I need to re-watch Pinot's attack.

 

[manolo57]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n3b5DF4spg

4:15 for Pinot's attack

 

[Tonton]

Good for the morale, and with two meh stages coming up, it's not like he depleted his energy reserves and will pay the price tomorrow. Pretty nice attack actually (not that you expected me to write otherwise )...

Oropa...

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Seemed like a pointless attack on the final climb - Maybe he wanted to show his strength.

I think it was more about his time losses in the TT and being a bit angry but I agree he should have left it alone. Being good over three weeks is about not wasting energy and picking the right time to attack.

 

[SafeBet]

I'm glad he gave it a try. Nothing to lose considering there are two flat stages next, and you never know if a rider gets in trouble you can easily gain one minute on him.

 

[lenric]

De Gent v2.

Overhyped.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Diesel style today.

It could be weird to some of you, but I wasn't particularly confident when FDJ took the reins, and his body language was a bit worrying to me. He's on the podium now, and has showed once again that Nibali is an inferior climber at the moment.

I feel a bit sad seeing Dumoulin, whom I don't consider superior to Pinot in term of capabilities, doing extraordinary well.

 

[carolina]

At least he got some time on Nibali.

 

[portugal11]

Tonton, I will win our bet

 

[Simurgh]

He look somewhat bad to me at the run-in to the climb (and before the GC contenders drove away), so I wasn't really shocked to see him dropped. But he did catch up. I think it is safe to say, that two of the three podium spots have the names "Quintana" and "Dumolin" written all over them (barring crashes and mechanicals), so the biggest threat to the last podium spot is going to be Nibali (and Zakarin too, I'd imagine).

 

[Krokro]

Re:

De Gent v2.

Overhyped.

Don't come here and behave portugal11 style. He still gained time on Nibs, Yates, Mollema and Jungels. I guess he blew up when it accelerated brutally.
He managed the end of the climb in a better way than the riders i mentionned, so not that terrible at the end of the day.

 

[kingjr]

Re: Re:

De Gent v2.

Overhyped.

Don't come here and behave portugal11 style. He still gained time on Nibs, Yates, Mollema and Jungels. I guess he blew up when it accelerated brutally.
He managed the end of the climb in a better way than the riders i mentionned, so not that terrible at the end of the day.

Might as well delete the forum

 

[IndianCyclist]

Sad to see that when it matters he is on the back foot and when it is not required, he attacks. Still on for a podium spot but now cannot afford any mistakes and rest day blues etc.

 

[Krokro]

Yeah that's a tendency of trolling, calling for non-sense winners predictions, etc etc.

Anyway you're right Indiancyclist. Still affraid by what he showed on the ITT and not really satisfied by todays perf. I hope that the tendency is not backwards in terms of form. But still, within actual GC contenders he managed to finish 3rd, not that ugly.

 

[carolina]

Stelvio will tell us the truth. I'm not that worried. He passed himself and didn't panic, that's the most important thing.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

Yeah that's a tendency of trolling, calling for non-sense winners predictions, etc etc.

Anyway you're right Indiancyclist. Still affraid by what he showed on the ITT and not really satisfied by todays perf. I hope that the tendency is not backwards in terms of form. But still, within actual GC contenders he managed to finish 3rd, not that ugly.

Don't forget Zakarin!

 

[Squire]

Wow, I didn't notice he caught and passed so many riders from the forward group. Impressive end to the climb. Still, I was expecting more from Pinot than he has shown on Blockhaus and today.

 

[yaco]

Pinot will better suited next week with the multiple climbs on stages - Struggled in the early part of Oropa but strong in the last 1.5km.

 

[Krokro]

Right Alexandre, Zakarin not to be underestimated. He might have a nice 3rd week !

 

[portugal11]

This isn't the "pinot appreciation thread"...
Too many sensitive frenchs here...

 

[Tonton]

Re:

This isn't the "pinot appreciation thread"...
Too many sensitive frenchs here...

I think there're only two: Alexandre (a.k.a. The Bardet Fanboy ) and me.

Actually it was an appreciation thread...until you joined the discussion . I appreciate your contributions, actually. And for the bet, you said no top-5, I feel good about my chances .

Thibaut started the climb slow (it reminded me of Malhao last year) and couldn't get Reichenbach's wheel. When Tibopino finally found his rhythm, he finshed strong. And now he sits in third, Mollema took a huge step backwards, And again, Nibali doesn't look good. I was expecting much better today, but as it turns out, not a bad day from a podium prospective.

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

De Gent v2.

Overhyped.

Don't come here and behave portugal11 style. He still gained time on Nibs, Yates, Mollema and Jungels. I guess he blew up when it accelerated brutally.
He managed the end of the climb in a better way than the riders i mentionned, so not that terrible at the end of the day.

Hyperbole. Does that ring a bell?
Anyway, tonton rightfully overhypes Pinot. He is his fan, it's normal. I did the opposite.
You're as free to ignore my opinion as I'm free to post it.

Cheers

 

[staubsauger]

Virenque, Jalabert, Bardet, Leblanc, Gadret ... Pinot doesn't even belong in that list. In a normal 2014 Tour he finishes 5th or lower.

Seriously I fear a total meltdown on Tuesday on a stage that should normally absolutely favor his characteristics.

Maybe he should start to become some sort of French Rasmussen in future? He certainly is one of the best climbers of the entire field on his day. Why not choose his days wisely and win multiple polka dot / blue jerseys with glorious breakaways. Better than to waste a potentially remarkable career with useless top 10 gc placements like Pozzovovo!