Loudenvielle (France) (AFP)
Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), adrift in the first non-category pass of the Tour de France, lost around twenty minutes in the 8th stage on Saturday at the finish in Loudenvielle.
A year after his retirement 48 hours from the arrival of the 2019 Tour, when he was able to apply for the yellow jersey, the Franc-Comtois sank.
Exactly one week after it fell 3 kilometers from the finish of the first stage in Nice on an ultra-slippery road.
"It is unfortunately the continuation of the first stage, the damage is still there," said the boss of the French team, Marc Madiot.
"On the flat, we manage to hide the misery but in the mountains it is more difficult. We understood that we were not at the same level as in the Dauphiné".
Pinot was left behind by the main peloton from the first ramps in the port of Balès, some 45 kilometers from Loudenvielle.
Surrounded by his teammates (Gaudu, Reichenbach and Küng in particular), he tried to climb at his own pace, after doing a few stretches in the lower back.
On Friday, the Frenchman held his ground in the edge stage leading to Lavaur (Tarn).
Pinot, who is 30 years old and is taking part for the 8th time in the Grande Boucle, has often suffered hard knocks in the Tour, alongside happy moments such as his third place on the podium in 2014 and stage successes at L'Alpe d'Huez (2015) and at Tourmalet (2019).
Second in the recent Dauphiné, he was the best French chance this year for the general classification.
"We will try to recover," added Marc Madiot.
"And get back to matches that may interest us, a stage, the polka-dot jersey (of the best climber) perhaps".
© 2020 AFP