Teams & Riders Thibaut Pinot discussion thread

[Simurgh]

He looked good today, could respond to any attack. A bit disappointed that he didn't win the sprint for the line..oh well, you can't have everything All in all, a good day and a step closer to the podium in my opinion, but he needs to drop/take time on Yates and Chaves sooner or later. Still sure that Dumoulin will at least podium. And for now, I don't feel like discarding Froome.

 

[yaco]

Pinot is looking strong - The crucial stage will be the ITT where he should take time from the likes of Yates and Chaves.

 

[Climber123]

Dumoulin
Pinot
Yates

 

[Chrispol]

Actually I thought he looked bad today.

At the top of Calascio he was grimacing as if he was going to drop at any moment. Looked a bit better at the end, but when he is in good shape, he attacks, so I am a little worried at the moment. I think the same statement can be done for Dumoulin. Last year they were good from start to finish, not "peaking for the third week" ***.

I don't like to say that, but the team was bad today. At 7km from the finish, when I saw Thibaut replacing himself alone in the wind with Reichenbach cruising at the back of the peloton for whatever reason, I was pretty pissed.

Yates look mighty strong at the moment, hope he can reverse the situation, but I am not to optimistic. Last year we all thought that Dumoulin was going to crack in the third week, we know the rest. Especially with Yates who is a young rider, he has improved in all areas, climbing, recuperation, and even ITT. I'm sure he'll surprise us on the road to Rovereto...

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Pinot is looking strong - The crucial stage will be the ITT where he should take time from the likes of Yates and Chaves.

His TT as shown in the final one in last year's Giro can be very unpredictable.

 

[Tonton]

...not unpredictable, rather back to his '15 level after a great '16 that raised expectations. FDJ put a lot of time and efforts, gained a lot in TTT and ITT, but in Pinot's case there was a clear trade-off: he became even more of a diesel. For '17, Thibaut/Julien went for a more explosive Tibopino, and the ITT power was gone. TP lost roughly 3 seconds per km at each of the two ITT in Il Giro, and again this year in Jerusalem. Although stage 1, with all that dust on the road, after Froome's crash, some played it safer than others.Not unlike last year's TdF opener.

So far so good for Tibopino. In order to beat Dumoulin, he needs to gain 1'45" in the mountains to offset ITT losses. I trust him to beat Pozzo, Yates (but not by much), and Chaves in the said ITT. Aru seems to be out of the picture, Froome still is a threat, he needs to be finished off next week-end.

That's on paper. We'll see what happens on the road. Vai Tibopino!

Edit: rest day management was a big issue last year. I hope that lessons were learned. At least one of the two after-rest-day stages, tomorrow' stage, isn't a Giro-defining day. The other is the ITT, and it really scares me, because that stage will shape the podium picture. "Only" 34 km of ITT left instead of 70: Pinot is in a better situation than last year.

 

[staubsauger]

It's a TT after a rest day. Wouldn't be shocked if Pozzovivo takes 1 minute from Pinot, like in the 2013 Vuelta a España! Be prepared..

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

It's a TT after a rest day. Wouldn't be shocked if Pozzovivo takes 1 minute from Pinot, like in the 2013 Vuelta a España! Be prepared..

Yeah I must admit I am not entirely convinced Pinot will deliver a strong TT, although on paper he should be the best behind Dumo and Froome. It just seems like the kind of moment everyone is expecting a good performance, and he just cracks under the pressure a little. Hope I'm wrong. Still firmly seated on the Tibo hypetrain though.
The stage I am worried about the most is Saturday's stage. Not sure what we can expect from Pinot on the Zonc.

 

[Tonton]

I hope that M S doesn't become the new Saunier-Duval and pulls a '07 on us . If so, I expect Tibopino to be the new Schleck (I can't believe I wrote that ).

 

[hfer07]

I hope that M S doesn't become the new Saunier-Duval and pulls a '07 on us . If so, I expect Tibopino to be the new Schleck (I can't believe I wrote that ).

LOL :lol:

 

[Chrispol]

Re: Re:

It's a TT after a rest day. Wouldn't be shocked if Pozzovivo takes 1 minute from Pinot, like in the 2013 Vuelta a España! Be prepared..

Yeah I must admit I am not entirely convinced Pinot will deliver a strong TT, although on paper he should be the best behind Dumo and Froome. It just seems like the kind of moment everyone is expecting a good performance, and he just cracks under the pressure a little. Hope I'm wrong. Still firmly seated on the Tibo hypetrain though.
The stage I am worried about the most is Saturday's stage. Not sure what we can expect from Pinot on the Zonc.

I don't think he has any problem with very high gradient :

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-suisse/2015/stage-5
http://www.climbing-records.com/2015/06/pinot-pulverizes-rettenbachferner-record.html

He was pretty good on Angliru in the Vuelta 2013 too.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

It's a TT after a rest day. Wouldn't be shocked if Pozzovivo takes 1 minute from Pinot, like in the 2013 Vuelta a España! Be prepared..

Which means there is going to be some strange results anyway. Rest days never sit well with a hard stage the next day for at least some of the GC riders. Tejay not riding so the parameters narrow........

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

It's a TT after a rest day. Wouldn't be shocked if Pozzovivo takes 1 minute from Pinot, like in the 2013 Vuelta a España! Be prepared..

Which means there is going to be some strange results anyway. Rest days never sit well with a hard stage the next day for at least some of the GC riders. Tejay not riding so the parameters narrow........

...no need to go back to 2013. Last year, stage 10 after a rest-day at Il Giro, as bad as he was, Pinot beat Pozzo by 25".

 

[WheelofGear]

Chaves down. One step closer to the podium.

1. Yates
2. Pinot
3. Pozzo

would be a cool podium. A time trialist-free podium.

 

[Alexandre B.]

A great day for his podium aspirations.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Chaves down. One step closer to the podium.

1. Yates
2. Pinot
3. Pozzo

would be a cool podium. A time trialist-free podium.

He's already on the podium.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

A great day for his podium aspirations.

Yes, and the "MS puzzle" is much less of a puzzle with Chaves out of the GC picture.

10 down and 10 to go, with the most difficult yet to come.

 

[May0maniac]

Until now his team didn't have to do a lot of work, he'll need them on stage 14, a diesel like Pinot will be at his best if the tempo is already high on Passo Duron, but you can say the same about Astana and MAL.
The descents on stage 15 could be a bit tricky for him (I think they recently fixed some potholes on Passo di San Antonio, but I have't ridden it since they did some roadwork, mainly for the Giro).
The ITT after the rest day could also be a bit problematic, but it should be easier to prepare for than a normal road stage, do a similar length effort on you TT bike on the rest day, maybe not as intense, about 45min at FTP on your TT bike should be a good preparation.

 

[Valv.Piti]

45 min FTP on your TT-bike, are you out of your mind? Thats basically 15 less than what you would do in a full blown hour record assault Thats some real manly *** if he does that the day before the actual ITT as that stage actually requires right around 45 min FTP.

Rettenbach is a lot different than Zonc as well. Well, Zonc is just different to any climb, but I'd definitely say that a climb like Rettenbach suits Pinot a lot more than Zonc.

Good day for Pinot, he needs the contenders to eliminate themselves and stay his consistent self, then he'll probably win.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

45 min FTP on your TT-bike, are you out of your mind? Thats basically 15 less than what you would do in a full blown hour record assault Thats some real manly **** if he does that the day before the actual ITT as that stage actually requires right around 45 min FTP.

Rettenbach is a lot different than Zonc as well. Well, Zonc is just different to any climb, but I'd definitely say that a climb like Rettenbach suits Pinot a lot more than Zonc.

Good day for Pinot, he needs the contenders to eliminate themselves and stay his consistent self, then he'll probably win.

Yeah, I messed that one up, it should probably be 45min at lower intensity.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Rettenbach is a lot different than Zonc as well. Well, Zonc is just different to any climb, but I'd definitely say that a climb like Rettenbach suits Pinot a lot more than Zonc.

Note to self: Rettenbach and Reichenbach is not the same!
Rettenbach is a climb
Reichenbach is a man.
Reichenbach might be a vital help for Pinot on the Zonc...

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

45 min FTP on your TT-bike, are you out of your mind? Thats basically 15 less than what you would do in a full blown hour record assault Thats some real manly **** if he does that the day before the actual ITT as that stage actually requires right around 45 min FTP.

Rettenbach is a lot different than Zonc as well. Well, Zonc is just different to any climb, but I'd definitely say that a climb like Rettenbach suits Pinot a lot more than Zonc.

Good day for Pinot, he needs the contenders to eliminate themselves and stay his consistent self, then he'll probably win.

Yeah, I messed that one up, it should probably be 45min at lower intensity.

On the other hand, Pinot has had some problems after the rest day....

 

[Tonton]

Re:

45 min FTP on your TT-bike, are you out of your mind? Thats basically 15 less than what you would do in a full blown hour record assault Thats some real manly **** if he does that the day before the actual ITT as that stage actually requires right around 45 min FTP.

Rettenbach is a lot different than Zonc as well. Well, Zonc is just different to any climb, but I'd definitely say that a climb like Rettenbach suits Pinot a lot more than Zonc.

Good day for Pinot, he needs the contenders to eliminate themselves and stay his consistent self, then he'll probably win.

Meh .

Unbeknownst to you Valv.Piti, with your "meh winner" post, you unleashed the biblical dimension of this Giro that began in the Holy Land. The deliverer shall salvage us from the bounds of misery, end the French Drought. The 10 plagues of Egypt began, one per day, after you made your statement...

Rest Day: water mixed with blood...we all know what it means, we just can't talk about it here. Today: the frog is invading the podium...the 10th plague is the demise of the first born. The question is: who was first, Simon, or Adam? Those who claim that Adam was the first man ever (and met Eve) are wrong. Fake news...

Only Imola day will be spared (God is a Ferrari fan ) ...

...see what you did?

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

45 min FTP on your TT-bike, are you out of your mind? Thats basically 15 less than what you would do in a full blown hour record assault Thats some real manly **** if he does that the day before the actual ITT as that stage actually requires right around 45 min FTP.

Rettenbach is a lot different than Zonc as well. Well, Zonc is just different to any climb, but I'd definitely say that a climb like Rettenbach suits Pinot a lot more than Zonc.

Good day for Pinot, he needs the contenders to eliminate themselves and stay his consistent self, then he'll probably win.

Yeah, I messed that one up, it should probably be 45min at lower intensity.

Guessing 80% with maybe a few intervals at threshold or whatever

 

[Tonton]

On a more reasonable note, I had Dumoulin as my prediction 2018, with Thibaut second. At this juncture, that's how it looks to me. Yates? The joker...Aru? Done. Froome? Medium done...the rest? I don't worry. A Ninja attack to squeeze a podium is always possible though. And I hope it's not at TP's expense.

What I always worry about with Tibopino is the first 10 stages or so. Week 3, if he makes it that far and it has been an issue, he's always strong.

What's left? Plenty. Key stages?

Zonc will shape the GC, and in high altitude it gets a little colder, that's when Tibopino soars. He will top-3 that stage and I hope much better. I don't expect many contenders to show their cards "so early" in the race, therefore I don't expect Dumoulin to lose a bunch. The next day could be trickier...

The ITT is an obvious one, after a rest day , but you'd think that professionals would have learned and figured it out. Today makes me feel better (after a rest-day), although it wasn't a monster stage. But look at Chaves today. Dumourain to crush it, Pinot will fare well.

The Finestre stage and the Cervinia, back-to-back, are opportunities to destroy TD. Destroy everyone, or destroy one-self. This is where politics can kill the fun, too many guys having too much to lose, or it can be the greatest show on Earth. Good finishes for Pinot. But will he go for the win? Will he be the only one (except for Pozzovino who attacks everyone and may attack himself)?

Thibaut Pinot on the podium, one stage, I feel good about that prediction. Can he win it all? Maybe not. But maybe. He's come way too far, all the trolls, the doubters. And he's a good guy. So Vai Thibaut, Vai.