French cyclist Thibaut Pinot will end his professional career at the end of the season, he announced Thursday in an interview with The Team. The Groupama-FDJ team climber, 32 years old and professional since 2010, will retire after the Tour of Lombardy at the end of October, he told the sports daily. “When I run, we’ll know it’s the last time, before I go and bury myself in my hole,” explains the climber, third in the 2014 Tour de France, with a smile.
Pinot hopes to participate in his last Tour de France
In this interview, he specifies that he will retire in October after the Tour of Lombardy, an event he won in 2018. Before this final race, he will compete in the Giro in May and hopes to participate in his last Tour de France, in July. “For my last year, I want to go there, it would piss me off to miss it. The Tour was hard, but it was also the one that gave me the most beautiful emotions (…). For my last year to be good, I have to be there. Just for all those who supported me”, wishes the Frenchman.
Pinot explains that “the triggering point” of this decision to stop “was (m) an injury in 2021 (following his fall in Nice on the 2020 Tour). There, I realized that it was difficult, that I was getting old and several times I thought about quitting.
Third in the Tour de France in 2014
Professional since 2010, the native of Lure, in Haute-Saône revealed himself during the Tour de France 2012, by winning a solo stage, and finishing 10th in this edition. Two years later, he confirmed by taking third place in the Tour, his best result so far in nine participations.
Thibaut Pinot also took 4th place in the Giro in 2017, winning one stage, and 6th place in the Vuelta in 2018, winning two stages. But the Frenchman’s career has also often been marred by injuries and retirements like those in the Tour de France (2017, 2019).