44e of the general classification of Tirreno Adriatico, Thibaut Pinot worried since his takeover. However, its sports director Sébastien Joly was reassuring about his state of form with the newspaper L'Equipe. Indeed, the formation leader Groupama Fdj had no ambition for the Italian event and did not come to contest the general classification. “Even though it's not easy to manage, he has good morale, he is in a good mood, very pleasant with the group” explains the sports director. “He's not at the bottom of the hole. If it was the case, it would be very complicated”. In terms of physical condition, his speech was even meant to be reassuring : “He has good legs, but it is still a little blocked in the lumbar vertebrae, he still feels discomfort in the lower back. But he is not late in his physical preparation, he is confident about his feelings”. He then gave himself up on his program and his preparation for the next Giro, announced as the major objective of his season : “It is still too early to plan on a racing program, to know if he has to run a lot or a little. We will continue to deepen certain things with new medical investigations. We hope to solve the problem”. A rather encouraging speech that clearly indicates that only back pain is a problem, and that the physical condition of the Franc-Comtois runner is there. It remains to be seen whether he will have time to heal his injury before May to arrive in good shape on Italian roads., on which he will face in particular Remco Evenepoel, Egan Bernal, Simon Yates or Mikel Landa.
Thibaut Pinot “confident about his feelings”
