Aurélien Paret-Peintre, stage winner, Bruno Armirail in pink, Thibaut Pinot fifth overall and best climber: the French side managed a good Tour of Italy by making their way through the difficult conditions and the many retirements.
For his last Giro before retiring at the end of the year, the Groupama-FDJ climber was aiming for a stage victory and a place in the Top 5 overall. If he narrowly missed the first objective (twice second), the Franc-Comtois, ill at the start of the race, fulfilled the second thanks in particular to a superb time trial uphill on Saturday.
And he leaves with a bonus, the best climber’s blue jersey, which allowed him to climb on the final podium on Sunday in Rome. “It has always been a dream to be on the Giro podium. I feel calm, ”said the Franc-Comtois who will be 33 on Monday.
The question now arises of a final participation in the Tour de France in July, in a role of luxury teammate for David Gaudu. The Grande Boucle was not initially on his programme, but given his form at the Giro, arguably the best since 2019, he is becoming an obvious candidate for a final lap on the roads that have made him so popular.
In the shadow of Thibaut Pinot, this discreet and modest team member had his hour of glory, at 29, wearing the pink jersey for two stages and a day of rest, a first for a French rider since Laurent Jalabert in 1999.
“I spent three extraordinary days, this jersey will perhaps change a small part of my career, it will remain engraved for life”, underlined the Pyrenean who did honor to the jersey by offering a good resistance before letting go.
And even when he lost it and put on the blue Groupama-FDJ tunic again, the French time trial champion hung on during a very mountainous last week to finish 16th overall, by by far his best ranking in a Grand Tour.
In the absence of sprinters on this Giro, France had no guarantee of winning a stage. Aurélien Paret-Peintre removed the doubt from the fourth, during a nice number at Lago Laceno.
This is the greatest success in the career of the 27-year-old Savoyard and a liberating victory for his AG2R-Citroën team, which has had little success since the start of the season.
He then followed up with a successful Giro, finishing in 15th place overall, slightly below his initial objective of forcing the doors of the Top 10.
“It’s still a nice Giro. I finished really well, I had great feelings in the third week. There is a bit of frustration for the general but I was an actor on this Giro, on the attack. I’m super happy,” said Paret-Peintre, who showed himself regularly at the front with his younger brother Valentin, author of a very successful first Grand Tour (37th in the end).
The Breton climber from Arkéa-Samsic wanted to enter the closed circle of riders to have won on the three Grand Tours. He did not succeed but it was not for lack of trying (a 3rd and a 4th place). Despite being in precarious form after contracting Covid-19 at the end of April and despite a heavy crash on stage 10, he slipped into numerous breakaways and showed a warrior’s temperament throughout. the race.
“I fought every day. I did not manage to win my stage but I will come back,” said the 31-year-old Morbihannais, who finished 17th overall.
Another Frenchman distinguished himself in the breakaways, Thomas Champion (Cofidis), to the point of winning the additional classification of the “fuga”.
