Thibaut Pinot is ready to use his rage to surge back into contention on the Tour de France as the race heads to his favorite terrain — the mountains.
The Frenchman was the best placed of the pre-race favorites on Monday when he was caught at the wrong end of a peloton split in crosswinds.
He lost 1 minute, 40 seconds to slip down to 11th overall, more than two-and-a-half minutes behind leader Julian Alaphilippe.
Photo: AFP
Defending champion Geraint Thomas is in the driving seat in second place, just 1:12 behind Frenchman Alaphilippe and 1:21 ahead of Pinot.
During Tuesday’s rest day, Groupama-FDJ’s Pinot was still fuming at the positioning error that ruined his until-then perfect opening week, but he and his team vowed to bounce back.
“I feel frustration, I feel anger, I feel rage,” 29-year-old Pinot, third overall in 2014, told reporters, his face a mask of cold determination.
Making up for lost time on Thomas and his Ineos teammate Egan Bernal, who is only four seconds behind the Welshman, is a tough ask, especially with an individual time trial tomorrow that should favor the defending champion.
“Do not write our obituary,” Groupama-FDJ manager Marc Madiot said. “You’re going to see some outstanding Thibaut Pinot. His victory at the Giro di Lombardia [one of five Monument classics in October last year] showed that he is a champion. His rage the other night shows that he can be a great champion.”
Madiot described the fiasco on Monday as “a blow to the liver,” saying his protege was “1-0 down at halftime in a Champions League game.”
“We’re only midway through the race and, good for us, the hardest part is yet to come,” he said.
After yesterday’s flat 11th stage, the Tour hits the Pyrenees, with a couple of tough climbs featuring in today’s 12th stage and a mountain-top finish at the Col du Tourmalet on Saturday.
“I know that I have the legs. I can’t wait for Saturday, I have so much rage in me. The finish at top of the Tourmalet is going to hurt, the legs will do the talking,” Pinot said.
“We’re going to be aggressive, we have a team for that in the mountains,” he added, citing teammates Sebastien Reichenbach, David Gaudu and Rudy Molard.
If the disappointment of Monday is not behind him yet, Pinot plans to use it for motivation.
“I’ve had some tough times in my career and I’ve always bounced back,” he said. “I know that on the morning of the time trial on Friday and on Saturday before the Tourmalet stage, I will think of all this.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two