"I got stuck for almost 30 seconds and I especially had the motorcycles almost falling on me" - Thibaut Pinot outraged by Col de la Loze chaos

A lot has happened on stage 17 of the Tour de France. Amidst Tadej Pogacar's crack, Jonas Vingegaard being blocked by a car, Felix Gall surging to victory on an insanely strong breakaway group where both Pello Bilbao and David Gaudu had clashes with spectators, surged another story. Thibaut Pinot was very upset with the situation that unfolded on the final climb and feared for his safety.

"It happened as it happened. We were aiming for the stage victory, but I think we're a bit short of that," Pinot said in a post-race interview. He had made the day's big breakaway group together with David Gaudu and Valentin Madouas, all three managed to avoid serious work and made the final ascent in contention for the stage win. "It was a crazy stage, it was really tough. It was one of the toughest stages in my career, she's not far from the top 5 that one."

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Pinot rode to 11th place on the stage however that included a very difficult moment. On the same location where Jonas Vingegaard was blocked on the Col de la Loze, so was Pinot. Fan footage shows the Frenchman also having to put his foot down and lose time in a crucial moment of the climb, near the summit and with very steep ramps.

"What shocked me the most today was the race stopped because of the motorcycles and the car. A motorcycle could have fallen on me, it's shameful," he commented. "I got stuck for almost 30 seconds and I especially had the motorcycles almost falling on me. And then we let the cars pass when there are only 15 seconds between the groups... there are things that I don't understand."

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Ultimately the team did not bring the benefit from the day, David Gaudu rode a strong stage into fifth place but because so many GC contenders made it into the breakaway he actually descended from 9th to 10th in the overall classification. "Now, we're going to try to perk up for the next two days, even if it's going to go fast, and to give everything on Saturday," Pinot concluded.

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