When he commented on the route of the next Tour France when it was disclosed by Christian Prudhomme on November 1st, Thibaut Pinot had displayed rather moderate enthusiasm… The leader of Groupama-FDJ will not be leaving Brest on June 26th. .
As revealed by RMC, information of which we have had confirmation, Pinot will indeed skip this year, an event with which he has made a very upset story, since his first participation in 2012 and his stage victory in Porrentruy.
A trend that has been emerging for several weeks in the entourage of the team, and which will be formalized this Tuesday during the presentation of the team.
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The decision not to participate in the Tour de France for Pinot was also taken following the excellent Tour of Spain by David Gaudu.
With his 8th place overall and his two stage victories, the Breton climber, who finished 13th in the Tour de France in 2019, showed that he had passed a milestone.
It was he who was named leader for the Tour de France by Marc Madiot.
A status that he will also have at the next Paris-Nice in March.
Arnaud Démare is back
In addition to Gaudu, the Groupama-FDJ team will also be betting on a second card with sprinter Arnaud Démare.
In recent years, Marc Madiot was faced with a problem of “rich” with two leaders in two very different fields, Pinot for the general, and Arnaud Démare for the sprints.
It was indeed complicated to align the two at the same time because their presence requires the support of 4 or 5 teammates at their service.
Less mountainous, the 2021 Tour de France offers more possibilities for sprinters.
So the choice of Démare may seem logical.
Absent from the Tour de France for two years, the Picard sprinter did not hide his desire to come back.
Winner of two stages of the Grande Boucle in his career, he shone during the last Giro with four stages won, embellished with the points classification jersey.
Démare can therefore be surrounded by part of his usual train alongside David Gaudu who will also have teammates to protect him when the reliefs appear.
Instead of the Tour de France, Pinot (30 years old) should align himself with the Tour of Italy in May, in a country he particularly likes and where he is not under the same pressure as on the roads of the Grande Boucle.
Fourth in the Giro in 2017, he was third the following year, the day before the finish, before being struck down by a serious lung infection.