After having achieved the feat of creating the “Pinot bend” in the Col du Petit Ballon d’Alsace during the last Tour de France 2023, which has since become “a tourist attraction”, will Thibaut Pinot’s supporters repeat the feat on the other side of the Alps? In any case, this is what is happening in Bergamo, in the north of Italy, where a few hundred fans will gather this Saturday for the last race of “Tibopino’s” career, on the Tour of Lombardy.
Like Paul, who will travel no less than 1,628 kilometers from Dijon to reach Lombardy between Friday evening and Saturday morning. First by train, with a friend, from Dijon to Toulouse, before heading towards Italy, picking up a fifth thief near Montpellier and a passage through Grenoble. “I couldn’t have been at the Pinot bend, because I only discovered it the day before. And since I’m from the south of France, it was too complicated. I was disappointed, but when I heard there was going to be a second Pinot turn, I jumped at the chance,” he explains.
A more intimate party
He hastened to join the Discord group created for the occasion by members of the CUP, the Ultra Pinot Collective, at the origin of the Pinot turn during the Tour de France, well helped by the French Loose Federation, the famous Twitter page. “What we did on the Tour de France is happening, but in a smaller committee. There should be a few hundred of us. We organized this with RPC [l’équivalent d’ASO en France] who was delighted that we were celebrating Thibaut. They reserved a location for us in collaboration with the FDJ, which we will reveal at the last minute for organizational reasons,” confides Guy-Laurent, one of the founding members of the CUP.
And even if the Italian Pinot corner should not bring together as many people as its French counterpart, where several thousand fans gathered for the last Tour of Thibaut Pinot, Guy-Laurent hopes to be able to count on the Italians. “It’s going to be a great family reunion, with around fifteen former teammates, his friends. We won’t be 3,000 or 4,000 like at the Alsace ball, but we will be a few hundred. And I am also counting on the Italians who fell in love with Thibaut with his exploits in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Many are calling me,” warns the supporter.
“Make him drink a little beer”
Last July, Guy Laurent “expected nothing, we didn’t even have a network, we didn’t even know he was in the lead”, before “hitting everything in the face”: “I I’ve done sporting events, I’ve done 4 or 5 World Cups. But that moment in the little ball, those 6 seconds during which he was in front… it will remain engraved forever,” he recalls with emotion.
This weekend, he would almost like to see Thibaut Pinot get let go rather than make the effort to get to the front where they will be waiting for him. “He’s not at his best lately, so if he can be dropped like Benoît Cosnefroy on the 14th stage of the Tour. And let’s throw him a crazy party, like Benoit’s friends did for him. With smoke bombs, carried in triumph and even making him drink a little beer, I’m very keen on that,” hopes Guy Laurent.
“We’re going to meet up with a lot of friends”
Antoine and Louis, from the FFL, organized the Pinot turn alongside the CUP last summer. This time, they are going to Lombardy in tourist mode. “We’re going to meet up with a lot of friends we met on the Pinot bend. There will be a good atmosphere, it will be part of the story. We’re going there in this spirit, meeting friends with less pressure because we’re sticking to the thing, we’re not organizing anything this time. It might be calmer, I say that but I don’t have too much information, and with the CUP we can expect anything,” imagines Louis.
Because if the figure of Thibaut Pinot attracts thousands of supporters along the roads, it has also changed the way of celebrating runners, and cycling races more generally. “On the last Tour we really had this impression of hype on the sides of the road. Cycling still had a cheesy side five or six years ago, there is now a new fervor and we can make the link with Pinot. But not only. The Pinot corner is an example but many people have realized that it is best to experience the Tour from the side of the roads. It brought a new fervor and so much the better. Cycling is one of the only sports in which you can see the guys without paying,” rejoices Louis.
The party before nostalgia
If Paul “follows the Tour de France” and “loves Thibaut Pinot”, he will devour the 1,600 terminals “more for the atmosphere than for Thibaut”. “I’m a big football fan, I support OM. We’re a bit like ultras, with this redneck atmosphere, we laugh, it’s friends, it spoke to me straight away. I saw that they were all sleeping together, a bit like in a football stand. The concept is funny, I couldn’t miss that,” he compares.
And he also believes that this passion for Thibaut Pinot has given cycling a good facelift: “Before we saw cycling for old people, who take naps. But there young people take up the torch, it’s exactly like in a football stadium, especially the mountain stages, with the folklore, the disguises, the laughs, the puns”, believes the one who hopes that all the beautiful little world gathered for Thibaut’s der will continue the party all night long. “I only took a sleeping bag, and I didn’t plan any accommodation,” he warns.
But beyond the celebration which will obviously be beautiful, nostalgia should also rear its head in Lombardy. “I didn’t have it until a day or two ago because I was in demand a lot, with lots of things in preparation, and keeping in touch with everyone. Now, it’s been 2-3 days that I’ve had this feeling and this nostalgia building up. Because afterwards it’s empty,” confides Guy-Laurent. But the CUP should continue, at least for birthdays. Just like this new way of celebrating cyclists will remain.