After a five-year gap, Thibaut Pinot will make his return to the Giro d’Italia in 2023, the Groupama-FDJ team announced on Friday, while David Gaudu will once again make the podium in the Tour de France his goal next July.
When Pinot last rode the Giro d’Italia back in 2018, it culminated in a heart-breaking finale for the Frenchman. He came within a whisker of making the podium then had to abandon due to a sudden illness after losing 40 minutes on the second last stage.
Gaudu, meanwhile, has seemingly usurped Pinot as the team's leading Grand Tour general classification rider. The 26-year-old finished fourth in the 2022 Tour de France and has high hopes of going at least one better in 2023.
Pinot said on Friday that his goal of 2023 in the Giro d’Italia will be, at the bare minimum, to repeat his stage win in 2017, captured during his only previous participation in Italy’s Grand Tour, where he also took fourth overall.
In the process, he also hopes to settle some unfinished sporting business that clearly remains close to his heart.
"Five years on from my abandon, it’s time I got revenge on this mythical course," Pinot said in a press release on the day of the team’s presentation on Friday. The Giro is my big goal of 2023."
The 70km of individual time trialling may dent any hope of a return to riding for general classification after a bruising few years, but Pinot sees enough hard mountain stages - especially in the final week - to warrant the journey.
"I have just one clear goal, to beat the best in the mountain stages. Overall, it’s a very mountainous route," he said.
"This kind of difficult Giro will probably be the hardest of the three in the whole season, so that’s the one that will suit me the best."
Gaudu, meanwhile, said, that he hoped to improve on his Tour de France result from this year, particularly given the 2023 route is, unlike the Giro, so light on time trialling.
"We worked very hard as a team and that gave me a great result, but we want to look higher in 2023 and get on the podium," Gaudu said.
"The 2023 route has an uphill time trial and lots of mountain stages, so it’s one of the most mountainous routes there could be. It suits me and it makes me dream."
While the two biggest Grand Tours were split between Pinot and Gaudu, there was no mention of where sprinter Arnaud Démare will get a look-in. The Frenchman's lead-out train has been broken up this off-season, but it remains to be seen whether the team can afford to take him to the Tour and sacrifice any Gaudu support.
Démare currently sits on 91 wins and has made it his major objective to reach triple figures.
"The 100 win mark will be a true devotion because that represents a rider's longevity. In the history of French cycling, only Bernard Hinault, Laurent Jalabert, and Jacques Anquetil have reached that figure. Unlike those three greats, I could get there in one same jersey - that of Groupama-FDJ," Démare said.
"This symbolic mark is attainable from this year and I'm very motivated to to everything to achieve it."
