Greig Leach

It seems that Thibaud Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) was harmed more in the crash in the first stage of the Tour than he let on (or at least that the team let on). Pinot has been regularly plaqued by bad luck in the Tour, leaving last year during stage 19. He started trying to stretch out his back on the climb up the Port de Bales and dropped of the pace. His teammate, William Bonnet, had already climb of a few kilometers earlier. He was surrounded by his teammates that included, Sebstien Reichenbach, Rudy Molard and Stefan Kung, all of whom willingly sacrified their standing on the GC to try and nurse Pinot over this and the following climb in hopes that he would recover on the road. Instead, he came in over nineteen minutes behind the main contenders, thus kissing his Tour victory good bye. With respect, it must be said that as I am writing this (about seven hours after the stage was completed) Pinot has not left the Tour. But with another tough day of climbing in the Pyrenees tomorrow I doubt he will be back after the rest day on Monday.