Frenchman pulled out of Tour de France with bronchitis
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Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) climbing during stage 8(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) had a crash(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) with Rafa Majka (Tinkoff) forge ahead(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) descending(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Thibaut Pinot (FDJ)
Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) will not compete in the Olympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro in August due to a viral infection caught while he was racing at the Tour de France.
This year the Frenchman won the overall title in the Criterium International, including two stages, as well as the French national time trial title. He was expected to have a strong showing at the Tour de France, but pulled out of the race citing a bout of bronchitis.
He had a poor showing in the mountain stages through the Pyrenees, compared to the other overall contenders, but he did spend some time in the mountain jersey. He eventually finished 28 minutes down on stage 12 to Mont Ventoux and then abandoned the race altogether.
Last week, Fédération Française de Cyclisme and national technical director Vincent Jacquet named the four riders that would represent France in the men's road events in Rio. Pinot was selected to compete along with Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep), Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin).
In a post on Twitter, FDJ announced on Saturday that Pinot had caught a viral infection and will not recover in time for the Olympic Games.
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Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
