Teams & Riders Thibaut Pinot discussion thread

[portugal11]

Tomorrow will be a hard day for pinot. I think nibali will go kamikaze in the last climb and will put pressure on quintana and dumoulin in the descent.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

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

It depends on what your definition of "normal" is. I don't want him to be Virenque, Jalabert, or Leblanc. In a "normal" TdF, they wouldn't have top-10. And let's be serious: Tibopino is every bit as good as Bardet (and I would argue better).

I'm not saying that he's Merckx, but Gadret? Come on .

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

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

It depends on what your definition of "normal" is. I don't want him to be Virenque, Jalabert, or Leblanc. In a "normal" TdF, they wouldn't have top-10. And let's be serious: Tibopino is every bit as good as Bardet (and I would argue better).

I'm not saying that he's Merckx, but Gadret? Come on .

There are many people who think bardet is better than pinot (including myself), so it's not a obvious thing...

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

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

It depends on what your definition of "normal" is. I don't want him to be Virenque, Jalabert, or Leblanc. In a "normal" TdF, they wouldn't have top-10. And let's be serious: Tibopino is every bit as good as Bardet (and I would argue better).

I'm not saying that he's Merckx, but Gadret? Come on .

There are many people who think bardet is better than pinot (including myself), so it's not a obvious thing...

Not obvious maybe, which makes my point: writing that Pinot doesn't "belong to the list" that Bardet is in, is inaccurate .

 

[yaco]

Strangest thing is put Pinot and Bardet head-to-head on a mountain pass and I believe Pinot would win 8 times out of 10.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

Strangest thing is put Pinot and Bardet head-to-head on a mountain pass and I believe Pinot would win 8 times out of 10.

But what matters in gt's is consistency... if you put pinot and bardet head to head during 3 weeks, bardet would win 8 times out of 10

 

[Tonton]

Irrelevant to the discussion. Both are very talented riders, one TdF podium each, and hopefully more to come.

As it relates to Tibopino and his quest at Il Giro, right now he's sitting in 3rd overall. Not too shabby, isn't it? And there's a lot of mountains left. Thibaut is a strong week-3 rider, and I hope it continues. I don't wish that Major Tom gets another big meltdown and desillusion. I don't think that it will happen. Quintana isn't super strong right now: maybe he'll have an off-day. Too good a team though. I think he'll be runner-up in Milan. Then Nibali is a mystery, not looking that good. Zakarin is in the picture but I suspect he'll have one or two bad days.

Maybe wishful thinking on my part, but I don't feel bad about the current standings and the future. Let's be vigilant tomorrow. Stage 16 will be the moment of truth.

 

[movingtarget]

The third week is so hard that any weakness will result in decent time losses. I think the podium is a five man battle at the moment between Dumoulin, Quintana, Nibali, Zakarin and Pinot. The TT hurt Pinot and he needs a much better second TT. Dumoulin is looking good but it's far from over.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Quote from FDJ DS

We wanted to win the stage but we did the job and finally [Pinot] is fifth and for us that is a good result

Looks like too many objectives
Now the decision making becomes even more complex. Should he go with Quintana/Nibali when they attack and possibly get dropped towards the end.? Should he stay behind TD all the way and look for weakness in him.
Look at what happened at Fuente De. Contador did a long range attack but Valverde rode extremely intelligently and didnot follow but stayed behind Purito. As soon as he sensed weakness in Purito he attacked and closed the gap to within seconds of Contador but didnot win the stage while Purito lost minutes. Pinot would do well to take a lesson from that.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

Quote from FDJ DS

We wanted to win the stage but we did the job and finally [Pinot] is fifth and for us that is a good result

Looks like too many objectives
Now the decision making becomes even more complex. Should he go with Quintana/Nibali when they attack and possibly get dropped towards the end.? Should he stay behind TD all the way and look for weakness in him.
Look at what happened at Fuente De. Contador did a long range attack but Valverde rode extremely intelligently and didnot follow but stayed behind Purito. As soon as he sensed weakness in Purito he attacked and closed the gap to within seconds of Contador but didnot win the stage while Purito lost minutes. Pinot would do well to take a lesson from that.

But one thing I like in pinot is that he hasn't any type of fear in attacking riders who are better than him or putting his team to work. I really have a love/hate relationship with his "cocky attitude". He isn't mollema who is very happy in finishing inside top 10 and only follows wheels however I really disliked his interview before the time trial when he said he was expecting to do a similar time to dumoulin and trying to be in pink after the stage... I was just thinking "come down to earth man", he dreams a lot...

 

[GuyIncognito]

I don't get why they thought he could win the stage, he's always been at his best on the longer climbs of 20km+

 

[Alexandre B.]

It's a stage win opportunity gone.

Stage was raced too hard and favored a stronger hardman like Jungels. Good ride. He strengthen his podium position.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

It's a stage win opportunity gone.

Stage was raced too hard and favored a stronger hardman like Jungels. Good ride. He strengthen his podium position.

What can I say? Staubsauger must be right: Tibopino doesn't belong to the list with Jalabert . Jaja would have found a way to finish second in that sprint (Bugno ftw) .

I haven't watched the race yet, just getting live updates and forum reactions. At 4 seconds a pop, comes early September, Thibaut will be in pink .

Good day for Il Grandissimo Tibopino.

 

[yaco]

I have a feeling that Pinot like Valverde wants to win a stage when riding a new race - He's trying hard.

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

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

It depends on what your definition of "normal" is. I don't want him to be Virenque, Jalabert, or Leblanc. In a "normal" TdF, they wouldn't have top-10. And let's be serious: Tibopino is every bit as good as Bardet (and I would argue better).

I'm not saying that he's Merckx, but Gadret? Come on .

There are many people who think bardet is better than pinot (including myself), so it's not a obvious thing...

And there are many who think the opposite (including me)

 

[Valv.Piti]

Disappointing sprint today, most likely the best opportunity for a stage win.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Disappointing sprint today, most likely the best opportunity for a stage win.

Remember Trentino my friend...the longer you want, the sweeter the victory .

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Disappointing sprint today, most likely the best opportunity for a stage win.

Actually, after reviewing the final a bunch of times, I believe that he was plain cooked. His sprinting seated in the last 100 meters is telling. He chased a lot, and I give you that he took the wrong (Yates') wheel. Still, brave effort by Tibopino.

It's great though. He's now expected to win sprints . Which he is quite good at, it's nothing new, as my favorite video shows (favorite because I posted it ).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoGGZk2y3Eg

But now, he goes for it. A few misses along the way, but he'll learn. And hopefully it pays off at a GDL, for example.

Nibali: that's the one to beat. A stage win? I believe that Thibaut will get one. But the podium is the goal. 15 down, 6 to go.

It was great to see, as mentioned in CN's article that the tifosi like him: the "he's one of us" banner was really cool. Bravo Italia! Forza Tibopino!

 

[SafeBet]

Tonton you think he'll race to beat Nibali and secure a podium spot, or he's ambitious enough to aim for the overall win?

 

[Netserk]

Given that it is almost three years ago he did well in a GT GC, I think he'll have his eyes on the podium.

 

[Tonton]

Will Dumoulin lose a big chuck of time tomorrow? Completely crack? If so, assuming that he finishes same time as Quintana, it would be tempting to go ftw. But as it stands now, I agree with Netserk: ride strong, let others crack, be smart, make this Giro a success for FDJ: with a podium, the sponsor will be happy. It was hard enough to make it happen. A success, and there will be more Giro in the future: then, come back next year to win it.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Yeah its not up to Thibaut to make the race, he should be looking at Nibali and Quintana to do that and try to profit from that assuming he has the legs.

 

[yaco]

I suspect that Pinot will be back at the Giro if 2018 if he finishes top 4. Though guess he'll be back to the TDF as his main goal in 2019.

 

[Ramon Koran]

Re:

I suspect that Pinot will be back at the Giro if 2018 if he finishes top 4. Though guess he'll be back to the TDF as his main goal in 2019.

Another year aiming for the giro and riding the tour for stage wins would be best for him I suspect, however I doubt the sponsors being French would allow it unfortunately. What's more with bardet aiming for the giro next year, all the pressure would be on pinot and that's definitely not a great thing for him.

 

[carolina]

His contract ends in 2018 so the team and sponsors need to consider what he wants to do.