Present in the breakaway for a long time, Thibaut Pinot dropped out about ten kilometers from the finish. He still finished eleventh in this stage.
“It happened as it happened, we were aiming for the stage victory, I think we lacked a bit to aim for that, explains Thibaut Pinot to the media after the race. It was a crazy step. It was really tough. I’m tired, it’s one of the hardest stages of my career, it’s not far from the top 5 that one.
Eleventh in the stage about four minutes behind Felix Gall, winner of the day, Thibaut Pinot lost time eight kilometers from the finish, hampered by a fall from a motorcycle on the ascent of the Col de la Loze.
“What shocked me the most was the race stopped because of the motorcycles and the car, a motorcycle could have fallen on me, it was shameful, the Groupama-FDJ rider gets carried away. I got stuck for at least 30 seconds, I had the bikes almost falling on me, it was rubbish. It was so steep that motorcycles had to stall. We let the cars pass when there are 15 seconds between the groups, there are things that I don’t understand. (The Col de la Loze) is incredible, there was really enough to get to the top, I don’t see why adding 400m at 20%, there was enough today.
