Thibaut Pinot

Thibaut Pinot (born 29 May 1990 in Mélisey, Haute-Saône) is a French professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam FDJ. He is rated as one of the most promising talents in French cycling, and ended as third overall in the 2014 Tour de France, and first in the young rider classification in the race.

2012

Pinot wearing the White Jersey at the 2014 Tour de France

Pinot, aged 22 was the youngest rider in the 2012 Tour de France. He took a prestigious victory on the eighth stage from Belfort to Porrentruy, which comprised seven categorized climbs including the Category 1 Col de la Croix, where he passed Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) shortly before the summit. He then negotiated the descent and the flat portion of road before the finish situated 16 km from the climb. He held on to his lead over the chasing group which included some of the Tour's general classification contenders despite the head wind, being frantically encouraged by his team manager, Marc Madiot. He crossed the line alone with an advantage of 26 seconds over the chasers. Despite being the youngest rider of the Tour, he managed to finish 10th overall in the final general classification. At 22 years and 54 days, he became the youngest rider to finish in the top 10 since Raymond Impanis in 1947, who was then 21 years and 8 months old.

Pinot at the 2015 Tour de France

2013-2014

At the 2013 Tour de France, Pinot abandoned the race on stage 16. He rebounded from this disappointment to finish seventh overall in the Vuelta a España. At the 2014 Tour de France, Pinot won the white jersey for being the best young rider and finished in third place in the final general classification, behind Vincenzo Nibali (1st) and Jean-Christophe Péraud (2nd). He and Péraud became the first Frenchmen to finish in the top three overall in the Tour de France since Richard Virenque finished as the runner-up overall in 1997. It was the first time in 30 years that two Frenchmen finished in the top three overall in the Tour de France - Laurent Fignon (winner) and Bernard Hinault (runner-up) finished in the top two overall in 1984.

2015

In 2015, Pinot had his first victory of the season at the Tour de Romandie. He won the queen stage of the race with seven seconds of an advantage over his nearest pursuer, Ilnur Zakarin of Team Katusha. He finished fourth in the general classification and was awarded the best Young rider jersey. In June, as he was preparing for the 2015 Tour de France, he participated to the Tour de Suisse and won the queen stage, a long and difficult event featuring a mountaintop finish. He won solo at the foot of the Rettenbach glacier. At the 2015 Tour de France, Pinot won Stage 20 (it finished in Alpe d'Huez) in solo fashion and finished 16th in the final general classification.

2016

Pinot performed badly in Stage 12 of the 2016 Tour de France, finishing a massive 28:24 behind the stage winner Thomas De Gendt. Pinot withdrew from the race just before the start of Stage 13 because he was suffering from bronchitis. He was in 34th position in the general classification 42 min and 54 sec behind the overall leader Chris Froome after the end of Stage 12. Pinot had worn the polka dot jersey for 3 stages (Stages 10, 11 and 12) during that Tour. On 16 Jul 2016, Pinot announced his withdrawal from the upcoming road race and time trial events of the 2016 Olympics Games because he required a prolonged rest due to his bronchitis and would not recover in time to paritcipate in the 2016 Olympics Games.On 1 Sep, Pinot announced on Twitter that his 2016 cycling season had come to an end, citing "persistent fatigue due to a virus" and "in order to prepare best for the next season" as the reasons for his decision to end his season prematurely. He had not raced in any cycling event since his withdrawal from the Tour de France just before the start of Stage 13.

Major results

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Giro	–	–	–	–	–
Tour	10	WD	3	16	WD
Vuelta	–	7	WD	–

WD = Withdrew; IP = In Progress

Major stage race general classification results timeline

Race	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Paris–Nice	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Tirreno–Adriatico	—	—	50	—	DNF	4	5
Volta a Catalunya	49	—	DNF	8	13	—	—
Tour of the Basque Country	—	—	DNF	40	9	10	4
Tour de Romandie	30	—	11	12	10	4	2
Critérium du Dauphiné	20	16	—	—	—	—	16
Tour de Suisse	—	—	DNF	4	15	4	—