FDJ's Thibaut Pinot rode to his first French time trial title in Vesoul and third win against the clock in 2016 after previous wins at the Critérium International and Tour de Romandie. Pinot's teammate Anthony Roux was second at 49 seconds with Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) third at 1:18 minutes.
"It's a lot of emotions," Pinot told L'Équipe. "I thought about everything I have done for two, three seasons in the time trials. Immediately, I saw my family, my mother, my sister, my father, it was very emotional. Initially, I had goosebumps. Besides, I knew almost everyone everywhere. It was pretty special to be at a French Championships as I knew half the people on the road! I really felt passion and it pushed me."
Pinot has improved against the clock in 2016, in part thanks to FDJ's partnership with bike sponsor Lapierre who created the Aerostorm DRS.
The 26-year-old explained his target of the championships was the time trial and is unsure how he will perform in Sunday's road race but will ride to ensure FDJ take the win.
"My week is successful. I prepared for the time trial. After the Dauphiné, I really started to recover to have the maximum power," said Pinot who enjoyed a stage win at the Tour de France warm up race. "Since then I have not done a workout of five hours of endurance. For a road race that will last more than six hours, it'll probably be a bit complicated in the final. We will try with the team because we have very strong riders like Arthur (Vichot) and Anthony (Roux) that can really do something. The important thing is that FDJ wins."
Pinot will debut his French national champions jersey at the Tour de France next month.
Full Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ | 1:04:01 |
| 2 | Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ | 0:00:49 |
| 3 | Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal | 0:01:18 |
| 4 | Jerome Coppel (Fra) IAM Cycling | 0:01:21 |
| 5 | Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:01:37 |
| 6 | Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:02:01 |
| 7 | Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ | 0:02:05 |
| 8 | Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ | 0:02:06 |
| 9 | Maxime Bouet (Fra) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:02:58 |
| 10 | Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:03:17 |
| 11 | Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:03:26 |
| 12 | Yoann Paillot (Fra) | 0:04:04 |
| 13 | Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 0:04:49 |
| 14 | Jérémy Cabot (Fra) | 0:04:56 |
| 15 | Florian Vachon (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 0:04:59 |
| 16 | Thomas Rostollan (Fra) Armee de Terre | 0:05:04 |
| 17 | Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 0:05:07 |
| 18 | Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo | 0:05:41 |
| 19 | Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 0:06:15 |
| 20 | Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Klein Constantia | 0:06:32 |
| 21 | Romain Lemarchand (Fra) Stˆlting Service Group | Row 20 - Cell 2 |
| 22 | Romain Bacon (Fra) | 0:07:20 |
| 23 | Sebastien Fournet Fayard (Fra) | 0:07:23 |
| 24 | Kevin Fouache (Fra) | 0:07:28 |
| 25 | Pierre Lebreton (Fra) | 0:07:41 |
| 26 | Alexis Dulin (Fra) | 0:07:52 |
| 27 | Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:08:02 |
| 28 | Paul Ourselin (Fra) | 0:08:10 |
| 29 | Sébastien Turgot (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:08:18 |
| 30 | Kevin Lalouette (Fra) | 0:08:48 |
| 31 | Bruno Armirail (Fra) Armee de Terre | 0:08:49 |
| 32 | Julien Morice (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:09:08 |
| 33 | Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ | 0:09:18 |
| 34 | Axel Crochard (Fra) | 0:09:24 |
| 35 | Antoine Leplingard (Fra) | 0:09:48 |
| 36 | Thibault Guernalec (Fra) | 0:09:59 |
| 37 | Maxime Roger (Fra) | 0:10:05 |
| 38 | Joseph Berlin-Semon (Fra) | 0:10:08 |
| 39 | Louis Pijourlet (Fra) | 0:10:10 |
| 40 | Romain Faussurier (Fra) | 0:10:54 |
| 41 | Yann Botrel (Fra) | 0:11:04 |
| 42 | Mathieu Dumont (Fra) | 0:11:37 |
| 43 | Victor Gousset (Fra) | 0:11:41 |
| 44 | Matthieu Garnier (Fra) | 0:11:51 |
| 45 | Thomas Denis (Fra) | 0:12:36 |
| 46 | Florian Esquer (Fra) | 0:12:50 |
| 47 | Aurélien Moulin (Fra) | 0:12:56 |
| 48 | Aléxis Carlier (Fra) | 0:13:18 |
| 49 | Stephane Duguenet (Fra) | 0:13:49 |
| 50 | Thomas Alfonso (Fra) | 0:13:53 |
| 51 | Geoffrey Thevenez (Fra) | 0:15:49 |
| 52 | Sylvain Georges (Fra) | 0:17:14 |
| DNF | Nicolas Baldo (Fra) Team Roth | Row 52 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Fabien Grellier (Fra) Direct Energie | Row 53 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Dylan Kowalski (Fra) | Row 54 - Cell 2 |
-
'Maybe it's not a bad idea to skip one winter' - Mathieu van der Poel mulls his future in cyclo-cross after record breaking world title in Hulst
Dutchman takes a cautious approach in securing eighth victory in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships -
'I was never the guy everyone was talking about as the next up-and-comer' – Simon Clarke bids farewell on his own terms after a career marked by resilience
"I'm 40 this year. I feel like I've wrung the towel dry" says Tour de France and Vuelta a España stage winner who pinned a number on for last time at Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race -
'We have earned our place - no one can take that away from us' – Tom Pidcock confirms return to Tour de France as leader for Pinarello-Q36.5 debut
Swiss ProTeam earned their way to a place at the 2026 edition mainly thanks to star British rider -
'I'll keep working at a high intensity' - Remco Evenepoel keen to continue 2026 success at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
Belgian key favourite for five-day race before first WorldTour showdown at the UAE Tour
