Career ends in 2023: Thibaut Pinot - The man with the goats who never wanted to win the Tour

Basically, Thibaut Pinot is in the same position as every Frenchman in the last 40 years who has done reasonably well in the mountains. If he gives his compatriots even the slightest glimmer of hope, he carries the burden of the Grand Nation to claim the first Tour victory since Bernard Hinault in 1985. And even though Jean-Christophe Peraud in 2014 and Romain Bardet in 2016 are two blue and white riders who, on paper, are a little closer to the big time than Pinot, it is always him who is most likely to achieve this historic event.

>> This is Thibaut Pinot

But even if Pinot fails in this endeavour just like everyone else, he never breaks under the heavy burden, even if sometimes not much is missing. Because he is the one who can feel the love of the French even in defeat. He gets the sympathy back because he radiates a lot of it himself and is down-to-earth. "Many people think that a sportsman drives a big car and lives in Monaco, but that's not necessarily true," Pinot tells the Swiss newspaper Le Tempsafter he rides his last race as a professional at the Tour of Lombardy in 2023. That absolutely does not apply to him.

Thibaut Pinot: "Happy not to have won the Tour"

Pinot was born on the southern edge of the Vosges. Pinot has lived in his home village of Melisey, where his father has been mayor since 2008, throughout his career. And not much will change in the coming years. Together with his partner Charlotte Patat, he has rebuilt a farm and made himself at home in the village, which has fewer than 2,000 inhabitants. He keeps goats and even runs an Instagram account for them.

It is also his attachment to his homeland that makes Pinot say a sentence that sounds even more absurd coming from a Frenchman than from any other professional cyclist. "I'm glad I didn't win the Tour," he says Le Temps. "I can't even begin to imagine what would have happened otherwise." He detests being the centre of attention, which would have intensified. And then "I would have had to move in any case. That would have been the biggest horror for me," he says. "Leaving the family, the animals on my farm, the garden and the courtyards that I have restored" is not worth the price.

Pinot's Tour de France drama 2019

And Pinot is close to winning the Tour, even if his Palmares hardly shows it. It shows 3rd place in 2014 as his greatest success in the Tour of France. 24 years old, Pinot wins the white jersey of the best young pro, but is beaten by compatriot Peraud and winner Vincenzo Nibali. The Italian has a lead of more than eight minutes over Pinot, which is not really close.

The situation is different in 2019, with the Tour de France not really picking up speed until the end of the second week. Before that, Thibaut Pinot made good progress through his native Vosges and also through the Massif Central, was third in the overall standings and ranked ahead of all the other top favourites for overall victory. Although he lost time and positions on a transitional stage towards the Pyrenees, Pinot proved to be in the best mountain form of the entire field with his victory on Toumalet on stage 14 and second place the following day in Nimes. Even Egan Bernal, the eventual winner, was unable to follow. He heads into the Alps with a small cushion over the Colombian.

Then comes the 18th stage. On the way over the Col d'Izoard and the Galibier, Pinot loses a few seconds and finishes the stage in fifth place overall, just a few seconds behind the serious contenders for victory Bernal and Geraint Thomas. But that's not the worst of it. He also loses the thigh muscle in his left leg. The day before, while avoiding a crash, he had banged his quadriceps against the handlebars in such a way that he suffered a torn muscle fibre.

On flat terrain this was still halfway manageable, but not on Alpine summits. With such an ailment, Pinot had the race doctor treat him early on the 19th stage up to the mountain finish in Tignes. But it was no use. He sends his helpers away and tortures himself with tears over the permanently ascending profile. After 36 kilometres, he gives up and climbs into the team car in tears.

Giro exit on the 20th stage in third place overall

It is not the first time that Pinot has had to abandon a Grand Tour in a promising position. After his Tour debut in 2012, which he finished in tenth place and with a stage win as a 22-year-old hopeful, a sore throat forced him to abandon a year later after it had already severely limited him. Although he did not have to abandon the Tour in 2015, an early crash on stage 5 cost him all his chances in the overall standings. He proved his strength later that year with a prestigious victory in L'Alpe d'Huez.

In 2016, a viral infection caused him to abandon the Tour before the 13th stage - he did not ride another race that season. In 2017, he started the Giro d'Italia for the first time in his career and finished fourth, including a stage win. But the double burden of the Giro and Tour is too much. After initially chasing his form in France, he finished the 17th stage in the team car.

Another year later, Pinot rides the Giro again. After the 19th stage, he was third in the overall standings. But he did not finish the tour. He collapses completely on the 20th stage. Dehydrated, with a fever and shortness of breath, he was taken to hospital immediately after crossing the finish line and did not start the final stage. Pinot felt the consequences until the summer, as a lung infection that had not yet been cured cost him his participation in the Tour.

He then proves just how competitive he could have been at the Vuelta. He brought home two stage wins and 6th place in the final standings. He maintains his top form into October and takes his most valuable victory. Thibaut Pinot wins the Tour of Lombardy. Il Lombardia is the only monument that the Tour specialist ever tackles.

Pinot: "I don't want to disappoint my team any more"

Nevertheless, very few people associate him with the Italian classic. This also applies to his other major successes. "People remember my withdrawal from the 2019 Tour more than my stage win at the Tourmalet," he says in an interview after the end of his career. "I'm seen as a loser, but that doesn't bother me."

Pinot has stage victories in all Grand Tours, finishing at least sixth in them and in the top 5 in all other major tours, celebrating a total of 33 victories as a professional. And yet sometimes that doesn't seem to be enough. Especially after the Tour de France 2020, he is also in danger of succumbing to the pressure. The bad luck that often befalls him in important races catches up with him again on the first stage. He crashed like half the field in rainy Nice.

What may not seem dramatic at first, however, has consequences. Not just for the race or the rest of the season. He wants to attack at the Giro again in 2021, but back problems that have plagued him since that day in Nice will prevent him from starting at any further grand tours this season. After last year's unsuccessful Tour, he has already told the L'Equipe"I don't want to disappoint my team any more." He no longer wants to be captain of a grand tour.

Thibaut Pinot "now ready for real life"

Thibaut Pinot only wants to lead, or rather be a good shepherd, at home with his goats. Without pressure and, above all, without being watched by the public. But before that, he is back on the road to success. In 2022, he won a stage of the Tour of the Alps, celebrating his first victory in almost three years since the Tour stage on the Tourmalet. He also strikes again at the Tour de Suisse. At the Tour of France, he is at the start as a stage hunter and helper for his successor David Gaudu.

In January 2023, Pinot declares: "I'm ready for real life now." With these words, he announces in the L'Equipe the end of his career after the season. He has previously told the same medium that he has been thinking about it since he was 18 years old. The talent was always there, but so was the reluctance to live the big life in the public eye.

Marc Madiot, his team boss, demonstrates his qualities as a clairvoyant at this moment. Or simply an extremely good knowledge of the driver, with whom he has an almost paternal relationship. Madiot says: "I think he will have a great season. He doesn't have to prove anything. He just has to have fun - and he will."

Pinot sends fans in the Vosges into ecstasy one last time

And so it happens. Pinot rides the Giro. He is no longer granted a stage win. First the Colombian Einer Rubio at the mountain arrival on the 13th stage in Crans-Montana in Palafavera in the Val di Zoldo on the 18th stage Filippo Zana. However, Pinot collects so many points for the mountain classification on the breakaway that he ends up taking home the classification jersey as well as 5th place in the overall standings.

Of course, Thibaut Pinot also rides the Tour again. As an assistant to Gaudu, who was able to take liberties on his farewell tour, he finished in the top 10 four more times and finished eleventh overall - his third best result in the Tour. He was accompanied everywhere by his frenetic fans, who forgave him at the end of his career for never having won the Tour. Instead, he puts up another great fight on the 20th stage. As if it had been planned especially for Pinot, the last decisive stage leads through the Vosges mountains.

At the Petit Ballon, he sets off solo and rides as the leader through thousands of people cheering him on. The fact that he doesn't make it to the finish at the front of the field only plays a minor role. Le Temps he says, "the power of sport is not the victory, but the shared emotions - whether they are good or bad."

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Thibaut Pinot is contesting the last race of his career with his ninth participation in the Tour of Lombardy. Just like his first as a professional almost 13 years ago, when he started the Tour Down Under at the age of 19, he will be wearing the jersey of Madiot's (Groupama) FDJ team. It's hard to imagine that Pinot will ever feel the urge to return to cycling in any capacity. But if he does, it will probably be in the same team where his brother Julien has been working as a sports director for ten years.

Thibaut Pinot's greatest successes

• Third overall in the Tour de France (2014), plus 10th on his debut (2012)
• Winner of the Tour of Lombardy (2018)
• Fourth overall in the Giro d'Italia (2017), plus 5th in his last participation (2023)
• Sixth overall in the Vuelta a Espana (2018), and 7th on his debut (2013)
• 3x stage winner at the Tour de France (2012, 2015, 2019)
• 2x stage winner at the Vuelta a Espana (2018)
• 1x stage winner at the Giro d'Italia (2017)
• Winner of the mountain jersey at the Giro d'Italia (2023)
• Overall winner of the Tour of the Alps (2018)
• A total of 33 victories as a professional, 12 of them at World Tour level
• Second overall in the Criterium du Dauphine (2020)
• Second overall in the Tour du Romandie (2016), as well as fourth (2015) and fifth (2023)
• Third overall at the Tirreno-Adriatico (2017), plus fourth (2015) and fifth (2016, 2019)
• Fourth overall at the Tour de Suisse (2013, 2015)
• Fifth overall at Paris-Nice (2020)