"I have already won in places like Tourmalet (in 2019) or Alpe d'Huez (in 2015) which are legendary but this victory would be even stronger", delivered the climber, whose village of Melisey is nestled less than twenty kilometers from the Vosges hill.
Its brutal slopes (7 km at 8.7%) in "Super Planche" configuration, i.e. embellished with one kilometer of unpaved road as in 2019, will be the scene of the finish of the 7th stage of the Tour de France, the first in the mountains, on July 8.
"An important date for me," insisted the Groupama-FDJ rider.
"I know it by heart but it will be the legs that will speak that day (...). The only advantage is that I can be more encouraged than the others."
During the Tour 2020 time trial, the public celebrated it as a hero, the dozens of "Pinot" inscriptions still visible on the asphalt still remind us of it.
"It was something very strong," he recalls despite three weeks of ordeal in this Grande Boucle.
Falling during the devastating first stage for the peloton in Nice, the Franc-Comtois suffered from his back for almost a year and a half.
A period of doubt closed by his victory during the 5th stage of the Tour of the Alps at the end of April.
Thibaut Pinot in training at La Planche des belles filles, on May 18, 2022 in Plancher-les-Mines SEBASTIEN BOZON AFP
"Not at 100% of (his) level, that of 2018 and 2019", the runner of almost 32 years (May 29) advances in veiled words: "I am aiming for a stage victory".
If possible at the top of the board, "where I do my ranges all year round", he describes.
Where he cross-country skis in the winter too.
The third in the 2014 Tour de France has already climbed it "ten times" by bike since January.
© 2022 AFP