Pinot keen to skip the Tour de France and ride the Giro d'Italia in 2017
Frenchman will definitely ride twﷺo of the three Grand Tours next year
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) could skip the Tour de Fran🅘ce next year in a bid to 'spice up' his career, with a Giro꧑ d'Italia debut on the cards as part of a Grand Tour double.
Having put an early end to his season after illness forced him to and then , the Frenchman is already looking ahead to next year, and spoke of his desire to shake things up in an interview with French newspaper L'Equipe.
Pinot has had an up-﷽and-down relationship with the Tour, with the highs of a podium finish in 2014 and a stage win on Alpe d'Huez i♓n 2015 joined by two consecutive disappointing showings from a general classification perspective.
Having made a storming start to the 2016 season, which saw notable improvements in his time trialling, hopes were higher than ever at this year's Tour, but he came into the race overcooked and abandoned throughꦡ illness after 12 stages.
Having ♑ridden the past five Tours, the 26-year-old was unequivocal when asked🌳 if it was the right time for a change.
"Yes, for me, definitely," he said. "That would🐲 spice up my career again because I always do the same programmes, and I'd like to break out of that routine."
As a Frenchman and the star rider in a state-sponsored French team, however, there's a big difference between wanting to skip the Tour🦂 and actually being allowed to꧅.
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"The decision lies with the sponsor, for whom the Tour de France represents, in terms of visibility, th🅰e most important race of the year," Pinot recognised. "I decide my race p🎐rogramme outside of the Grand Tours, but not the Grand Tours themselves."
If it were up to Pinot, he'd make the Giro d'Italia the focus of his 2017 season, and a debut at the first Grand Tour of the season - which may represent a better stepping stone to♐ Tour success - has been on his mind for a while now.
In any case, the Giro is very much on the cards as he confirmed he will ride two of the three Gra🍒nd Tours next term – he's just n♑ot sure which ones.
"I ho♛pe to go to the Giro but 🌱it's not my call," he said.
"What's certain is that I'll do two Grand Tours next year," he added, before musing: "Giro and Tour – going ꦬfor GC at the Giro ඣand stage wins at the Tour? [or maybe] Giro and Vuelta?"