Thibaut Pinot to use Tour de Suisse as final preparation ahead of Tour de France

All over social media the interest on Thibaut Pinot is constantly high. The Frenchman is on a good run of form and is looking to take it into the Tour de France, as he began this weekend the second block of his season.

However he did not stress about it, claiming that "I'm in the middle of my preparation". Sure enough, the day before the Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes he rode 4:30h with over 3000 meters of climbing. The day after the race, he rode an extra 4:30h having climbed the Col du Galibier and the Col de la Croix de Fer. Pinot has been - and is currently - in a training camp alongside several members of Groupama - FDJ in preparation for the Tour de France.

After getting back to his winning ways at the Tour of the Alps, Pinot is confident in his ability to aim high at the Tour - although his goals won't pass through the overall classification as they have in the past. “We're still a month away from the Tour, so there's no need to panic. At worst, I'm a little late, but then there's always the Tour de Suisse," he said, confirming his next race in the calendar on an interview with Cyclism'Actu.

“I think David was better than me. He was feeling very good, so naturally we rode for him. I think I was the worst of the four of us, so I sacrificed myself first," Pinot said about his outing this Sunday. Instead of playing with their numbers, Groupama worked towards David Gaudu who was then overwhelmed by the duo of Jakob Fuglsang and Michael Woods, on his way to finish third. However the team stresses that the goals come later, Gaudu himself said that "the goal is the Tour, not the Mercan'Tour" after his performance.