Present at the start of the Tour du Limousin this Tuesday, Thibaut Pinot will hang his first bib for almost four months after the Tour of the Alps.
«It’s time for the recovery and it will be 100% French“. On his Twitter account, Thibaut Pinot broke his silence on July 30 after several months of absence. This time, it was not to reassure a community of faithful still close to this tormented climber, as he had done a month earlier, but to announce his return to the roads. This Tuesday, 116 days after a grueling Tour of the Alps, the Franc-Comtois will once again hang a bib at the Tour du Limousin. The Tour du Poitou-Charentes, the Classic Grand Besançon, the Tour du Jura and the Tour du Doubs will follow. A smooth recovery. And especially the light at the end of the tunnel?
«I feel like a brand new runner, very young and full of envy, relished the 31-year-old cyclist during a press briefing last Thursday. I’ve been waiting to put on a bib for a while. Physically, it seems to be going pretty well, I’m happy.“And for good reason, the Groupama-FDJ climber has redoubled his intensity since the beginning of July, before which he had to compose between short bike rides and muscle strengthening exercises to treat his recurring back problems. This forced him to ignore the three Grand Tours. “Watching the Giro was frustrating, the Tour de France even more, admits the third in the 2014 Tour. I felt helpless, useless.»He even confided to Parisian have thought of ending his career. Only a month ago, the one who cherished the hope of winning the Grande Boucle in 2019 joined his partners in training course in Tignes, where he found having rediscovered the pleasure of riding, as he repeats over and over again. Last week, Pinot traveled its regional roads for more than 650 km, as evidenced by its profile Diet. «I am motivated like a caddyHe joked Thursday.
Heading for the Tour of Lombardy?
But on the tricky roads of Limousin, where he will be supported in particular by his Breton teammate Valentin Madouas, winner of the Polynormande on Sunday, Pinot knows that the resumption of competition will not be smooth: “I expect to suffer but this is what I need“. By getting closer to the fullness of his means, this warm-up will allow the French climber to stretch his goals beyond the first half of September. And to envision an end to the season that is far more hectic than the start of the year concluded by his frustration at the end of the Tour des Alpes. “The results are catastrophic, there was not much positive this week, he then planted at the microphone of The Channel The Team. The more the kilometers pass, the less it goes.»
Obviously, the cyclist from Mélisey can once again stack the terminals and now plan on his end-of-season objectives: the races in Italy. History to definitively close this slump from its fall from the start of the 2020 Tour to its powerlessness on the transalpine slopes at the end of April. But also and above all to play his card on the last “Monument” of the season, namely the Tour of Lombardy, which he won in 2018. No one knows for the moment whether one of the darlings of French cycling will be able to or not defend your chances on October 9th. However, Thibaut Pinot will be back on the road and admits himself “rediscover the pleasure of cycling“. A first victory.
.
