Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, still plagued by back pain, has given up participating in the Giro d’Italia (May 8 to 30), his team, Groupama-FDJ announced on Saturday April 24. The Giro was his main goal for the 2021 season, since he chose to skip the Tour de France.
“I can’t hide: I’m not in a condition to shine on the Giro. I would suffer needlessly and I would not be able to help the team. It’s not even a question of form, but back pain prevents me from performing ”, explained the 30-year-old cyclist in the statement released by his team.
“Not competing in the Tour of Italy is heartbreaking, we did everything to be there! We really did our best so that I could start in the form that is normally mine. I’m disappointed, but I think about the rest. I want to heal myself, leave these back problems behind me to regain my level and fight with the best. “
“Catastrophic” Tour of the Alps
“No date for the resumption of competition has been set, and no sporting objective has yet been defined”, said his team.
At the end of the Tour des Alpes, Friday, Pinot, 60e of the general classification at 25 ’35 ”from the winner, the Briton Simon Yates, had drawn up a report “Catastrophic” of his week. “There is not much positive this week, it’s complicated to be at this level”, he had declared on the channel L’Equipe after the arrival of the last stage.
Pinot has suffered from his back since his fall suffered during the first stage of the Tour de France, at the end of August 2020. He had reached the finish of the Tour, in Paris, despite this injury, to finish 29e of the general. He then participated in the Tour of Spain, but had retired after two stages.