Col du Tourmalet (France) (AFP)
Raise arms at the top of the Col du Tourmalet, in front of all the favorites of the Tour de France, after a frustrating week: the image trotted in the head of Thibaut Pinot since its disbursement time Monday in Albi, it became reality Saturday at the price a finish full of "rage".
Pinot, Pinot, Pinot ... These five letters, omnipresent on the bitumen of the 19 kilometers of the rise of the Tourmalet, have almost appeared engraved on the slopes of this Pyrenean giant. Engraved in the eyes of an audience more crazy than ever in the last hectometres of this 14th stage, those that the French climber had chosen to place his decisive acceleration.
"Thibaut, Thibaut, Thibaut!" At the very top of this mythical pass, at an altitude of 2115 meters, it is no longer the name, but the name of the French champion who has long echoed, then resumed in chorus by the crowd at the time of the podium ceremony.
On the highest step, the climber of the Groupama-FDJ team struggled to contain his emotion. After having "goosebumps" throughout the climb of the pass, he was finally able to smile, filled with happiness, but also a palpable relief.
- "I took a slap" -
Because this victory, he had "checked". Well before the start of the Tour, a first time. And without a doubt a second time, Monday night in Albi, after trying to understand how he could have lost 1 min 40 sec on a flat stage that day, ruining in minutes every effort of a great start Ideal loop.
"I took a slap as I rarely take," he said, released and delighted to have fulfilled the contract he had set after this bitter setback Albi. "From the day of rest, we put our heads back to the place and we left more motivated than ever, even more than before perhaps," he explained, repeatedly emphasizing the " rage "which inhabits it, which has inhabited it even more for a few days.
"Yesterday already" (Friday), when taking the start of a perfectly conducted time trial (7th place), "I had this in me". "And today (Saturday), I thought about it in the final climb, I could not leave the Tour without a stage win," he said.
- "You are very tall!" -
This event seemed equally impossible for the whole Groupama-FDJ team, starting with his boss Marc Madiot. All week long, he had hammered that his colt was not going to stop there. That this disbursement of Albi had been "founder". That "Saturday, we will roll!" That "Pinot is a very great runner".
As in a dream, the most powerful wish of the manager unfolded before his eyes, in the dusty and prestigious setting of the Tourmalet. "You're big, you're very tall, you're going to do it," he screamed, as if possessed, in the final moments of the stage, staring at a television set near the finish. Before running away, full of enthusiasm, find his leader.
"I am very happy and especially very proud of what the team has been able to give, we have boys who give," he will rejoice a few minutes later.
Pinot, struggled to find the words to qualify his feat, which puts him in 6th place overall (3 min 12 sec of Julian Alaphilippe, and 70 sec of Geraint Thomas). Overwhelmed, the runner of the Vosges at first had to restrain his tears, so disoriented that he even came to confuse the Tourmalet with the Alpe d'Huez in a press conference.
No matter, he won in a legendary collar, and it's "grandiose", as he describes himself. "In a career, it matters."
© 2019 AFP