Special envoy to Moirans-en-Montagne
“Thibaut!, Thibaut!” Thank you for everything Thibaut”. As in an endless day, the sequence seems to repeat itself, tirelessly since the start of the Tour de France. Thibaut Pinot superstar of the peloton. In the paddock which welcomes the buses of the twenty-two teams before the start this Friday in Moirans-en-Montagne, there is once again more of a rush to see the Groupama-FDJ team and its emblematic climber than to go and encourage Tadej Pogacar or try to observe the yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard with curiosity.
In the Jura, the Franc-Comtois once again measured his immense popularity with his compatriots by blowing up the applause meter when getting out of the gleaming vehicle. All smiles, he hurried to the barriers to take a few selfies. A handful of seconds before him, team leader David Gaudu, the best Frenchman in the general classification (10th) appeared in relative indifference.
After signing a few stretched jerseys, the climber went to put his signature on the bike of Hugo, an early fan who was waiting in front of the bus with a cardboard sign on which he had scribbled his request. “I’m going to apply myself”, smiled the darling of the French felt in hand to dedicate the orange frame properly. The 33-year-old runner made one happy. “I have been following him for more than ten years in all his races. I love the character he is and the emotions he brings. We support it in glory as well as in defeat. This bike, it’s a collector’s item, we’re not going to let it go, ”says the young man, the smile of a toddler on Christmas Eve.
“He’s authentic, he doesn’t calculate, that’s what makes him unique,” admired Bastien a few meters away, his team’s cap on his head. “Oh did you see the calves?! “, had yelled just before a piece of cabbage to his friend, a team jersey three times too big for him. “He only needs one stage victory to say goodbye to the Tour. It would be great”, hopes Bastien.
At 33, Pinot is competing in his last Tour de France and the public does not want to miss the opportunity to salute the idol of the peloton one last time. “We’ll see if we can go see him in the Markstein stage,” smiles Hugo, who could join the dozens and perhaps hundreds of French fans who are determined to party on Saturday in the stage between Belfort and Le Markstein Fellering. At the initiative of the parody account La Fédération française de la Lose, a rally will be organized in a volcanic bend for the future retiree who will definitely put his bike away after the Tour of Lombardy scheduled for October 7.
