After a 2022 that left numerous withdrawals, such as that of Alejandro Valverde, Philippe Gilbert, Vincenzo Nibali, Mikel Nieve… with only 12 days of the year elapsed, in 2023 there will already be a withdrawal of an illustrious man: Thibaut Pinot. as it progressed L’Equipe and almost at the same time the runner himself on his social networks, the Frenchman will retire at the end of the season. He is 32 years old and in May he will turn 33, the age at which he will hang up the bicycle in a race linked to Groupama-FDJ since he turned professional in 2010. So far, there are 33 victories that show off a great record of a runner in which injuries and physical problems weighed him down. “Now I am ready for real life,” says Pinot for the aforementioned French outlet.
This season will run the Giro d’Italia and “hopes” to have one last presence in the Tour de France. After a brilliant 2019, in recent seasons Pinot was unable to enjoy himself to the fullest on the bike and has only achieved two successes since then, both in 2022: a stage in the Tour of the Alps and another in the Tour de Suisse. Stage winner in the three grand tours (Tour, Giro and Vuelta), in 2018 he won the Giro de Lombardia, a career that seems to have serious options to be the last of his career. As for three-week race generals, he managed to get on the podium in the Tour, his home race that marked him so much, in 2014. In the Giro, he was 4th in 2017 and in La Vuelta, 6th in 2018. He even became French champion against the clock.
“When I run, we’ll know it’s the last time, before I go and bury myself in my hole,” he says in L‘equip with a smile. His team also hopes he has a great farewell year. The manager of the French squad spoke to the team’s media after the news. “Let’s just say we start to see the decision coming up in mid-2022. This really came to fruition late in the season, but there were warning signs. Thibaut really formalized it to me at the end of the season, and I wasn’t surprised. For me, it was almost expected. There was also a non-negligible element: it was at the end of the contract”. Pinot, before his last year in active.