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Teams & Riders Thibaut Pinot discussion thread

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I agree with you Tonton that never having gone for the Ardennes classics is a missed opportunity as LBL especially is within his skill set for sure and to win both climbers monuments would really elevate his status in the sport in terms of overall palmares.

Has anyone won both in their career in the last 15 years other than Gilbert?
Dan Martin. And Fuglsang is the current champion of both.

Bettini's last Liege win was 18 years ago, but he last won Lombardia in '06, so he just gets in.

Might as well throw the other names back to the 80s; Camenzind, Bartoli, Richard, Argentin, Kelly, Hinault. Before that, you get into Merckx and deVlaeminck, and like approaching a black hole the laws of physics no longer apply.
 
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Gaudu needs to get his shot, but until he does, he needs to drastically improve his ITT.

This. If his public vital stats are right, weight 53kg, lenght 1.73...He's size of Contador, Evans and 9-12kg less lean musclemass. Gives an idea of his capabilities to be a future champion GT racer. None. Mountain super domestique yes, but not complet. Too small build. GT contenders are complets, not grimpeurs, unless route is made skewed on purpose. And this is problem with FDJ, they're not modern WT team. They're never gonna win gc with grimpeurs, never.
 
Yes. Gaudu was beat up, had to quit. Too bad for this Tour, I don't think that JV was that good, just Ineos was bad, aging, wi
If Gaudu had been the leader this year people would have said he's mentally weak and lacking the absolute will to win as he completely disappeared in the mountains... :p
For sure!

Note: Egan won a Tour, so the discussion is closed at least for the near future, otherwise...Gaudu DNF stage 16, Bernal DNS stage 17...same rider, different team?
 
What's the objective for the Vuelta: GC or stages?
Considering the route, the field, only 18 stages, GFdJ has to be thinking GC. Team composition would support that guess: there's no sprinter (Demare, Sarreau), and individually, no serious candidates for a stage win besides TP and Gaudu. But it's a solid group of rouleurs who can drive on the flat and prevent stupid time losses. That also would indicate GC. No Molard, no Madouas, no Reichenbach: unusual, but as I wrote before, being the 2nd, 3rd, 4th best mountain train is useless...you get outgunned.
 
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According to L'Equipe this morning, Pinot hasn't recovered from his back injury & is participating in the Vuelta to get his "sensations" on a bike back & help his teammate David Gaudu: https://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur...confiance-sur-les-routes-de-la-vuelta/1185548

Info ou intox? (as the French say, i.e. real truth or deliberate misinformation to keep a low profile?). We'll find out soon.

Info no doubt. If there was a couple of days before the first hilly/mountain stage, a smokescreen could help relieving pressure and make competitors underestimate him like Contador 2014. This time any “intox” wouldn’t last more than a 12 hours from now because of Arrate (I mean, imagine he follows/beats Roglic to the stage and takes red; everyone would know immediately he’s a serious contender) so what would be the point? I say no rollercoaster this time, just a steady, anonymous race. Which is great actually, because my heart needs a break...
 
Here's an English, non-paywalled, article about it:


"I wanted to be here. After a while, I knew I might not be at 100 per cent at the start, but I still hope to have a good Vuelta. I don't want to end the year at the Tour, and I hope the Vuelta can put me back on the right path, and help me into the winter. I'm counting on the Vuelta to give me the enjoyment that I've not had for quite a while now."

I like this. Get the enjoyment back, and hopefully end the season on a high. And I would consider helping a teammate achieve a good result a high.
 
Still terrible, which only goes to show how close he was to dying in the Tour and thus how mentally tough he is for finishing it.

What are you on about man? Didn't you know that getting a handlebar in your thigh, catching pneumonia and having people crash in front of you, besides having a farm full of adorable animals are irrefutable proof of mental weakness and a likely absence of true masculinity, which dictates that one must MAN UP in face of adversity instead of abandoning a race CRYING on live TV, and NEVER let emotions get a hold of you for a moment, because a REAL man is cool-headed, calculating and rational at all times.

/s
 
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Personally I think he should ride with a sheep around his shoulders. :innocent: (Or on his back, to keep it warm?)

I don't really get their plan for this vuelta, but I wish him the best. Maybe they thought he would be better by now and it was just on the schedule and now they just hope it's getting better with time. He probably wants to repay the team in a way...

I think that this is about getting some miles in the legs, with a look to the next season. I think that his lacklustre spring is partly explained by the fact, that he didn't race at all after the 2019 Tour. He said himself before/after Provence (that race, where Quintana smashed everyone on Ventoux), that he was further back in his fitness progression than he should have been. His best year did come after racing a Vuelta and finishing on a high in the autumn classics. Admittedly, it is impossible to repeat the 2018 autumn form now (perhaps possible if he DNF'ed the Tour and gave his back some rest instead of punishing it), but I think a full Vuelta will set him up nicely for a solid winter base.
 
Still terrible, which only goes to show how close he was to dying in the Tour and thus how mentally tough he is for finishing it.
Maybe the "Pinot his mentally weak" stuff got to him, he hung on to make a point and silence his critics. That's the only explanation that I can imagine and I don't know how I feel about it. To me, he had nothing to prove. Finishing Le Tour was a HUGE mistake.

Now he can win Tourmalet, Angliru, get the KOM...meh...Majka stuff...

I'm running out of expletives :mad:.
 
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Maybe the "Pinot his mentally weak" stuff got to him, he hung on to make a point and silence his critics. That's the only explanation that I can imagine and I don't know how I feel about it. To me, he had nothing to prove. Finishing Le Tour was a HUGE mistake.

Now he can win Tourmalet, Angliru, get the KOM...meh...Majka stuff...

I'm running out of expletives :mad:.

Unfortunately if his back is bothering him KOM may be out of the question as well. :(
 
Maybe the "Pinot his mentally weak" stuff got to him, he hung on to make a point and silence his critics. That's the only explanation that I can imagine and I don't know how I feel about it. To me, he had nothing to prove. Finishing Le Tour was a HUGE mistake.

Now he can win Tourmalet, Angliru, get the KOM...meh...Majka stuff...

I'm running out of expletives :mad:.

I suspect neither choice - staying or leaving - would have been mentally easy.
It obviously can't have been easy limping through the Tour with a back that was clearly bothering him, hanging at the back instead of being up there fighting for the fun placings. However, I don't think going home would have been easy either, maybe most of the time it would have been okay; he could have spent some time with his animals and made sure to not watch the race. But then stage 20 would roll around, with the race passing by so close to his home, and he was supposed to have been a part of it! Of course, stage 20 was probably a strong motivator for him to stay in the race as well.

I'll stick to what I've said before: If continuing had been a severe risk, then someone from the medical staff would likely have gone up to him like; "Hey, listen Thibaut; if you continue with that back you'll mess it up real bad. Go home, get some rest, and prepare for the Vuelta. Oh, and btw; you have nothing to prove!"

(They would obviously be speaking French.)
 
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