A last stand of honor on the roads of France before leaving the competition. Thibaut Pinot, the darling of the French public, who has just played the last Tour de France of his career, marked by a memorable passage in the “Pinot bend” during the 20th stage in his Vosges, will rub shoulders with tricolor fans one last time who cherish it so much, year after year, for more than 13 seasons, on the occasion of the Tour Poitou-Charentes (TPC), which starts this Tuesday.
After the five stages of the TPC, from this Tuesday to Friday, he will compete, unless there is a change in the calendar, the Tour of Lombardy on October 7 before saying goodbye, definitively, to cycling.
“There will be emotion, that’s for sure”
“We are fully satisfied, says Alain Clouet, director of the TPC in an interview with Sud-Ouest. When you see the Tour de France that he did when some had already buried him… He became number 1 in terms of popularity even ahead of Julian Alaphilippe. It is a great joy for us”. The announcement of Pinot’s participation in the TPC was made official on social networks by the organizers last Tuesday.
“There will be emotion, that’s for sure, predicts Clouet. People want to see it but I think Thibaut wants it too. Clouet does not hide his pride in hosting such a symbolic event in his race. The last of Pinot in France on the TPC makes it an unmissable event for cycling fans, and promises an unusual enthusiasm. The race will start with a stage between Confolens (Charente) for an arrival in Martha (Charente-Maritime) this Tuesday. And will end with an arrival in Poitiers (Vienne), on August 25.
A Tour de France 2019 in the history of French cycling
Thibaut Pinot, three stage victories in the Tour de France, including a lead finish at the top of the Col du Tourmalet, in 2019, marked everyone’s mind and captured the very essence of the rider, adored by the crowd, spectacular, even more after his tour de force at the Prat d’Albis the next day in front of his compatriot Julian Alaphilippe. The Groupama-FDJ rider also distinguished himself on the other two grand tours, with a success on the Giro and two on the Vuelta. It is also a victory over a classic, in 2018, on the… Tour of Lombardy, which will punctuate his career next October.
On the Tour, for the twentieth stage in the form of a day of glory for Pinot in his turn, Marc Madiot had burst into tears, several times. “I imagined this emotion at the Tour of Lombardy in early October for his real farewell, he sobbed. I also cried in the car. We do this job for that, just for that. The prize list is lines on a piece of paper. He doesn’t have dozens of them. But he will leave us something else. »
