When Thibaut Pinot turned professional in 2010, he had every reason to be unsure about his prospects of fulfilling his potential as French cycling’s next champion in waiting. He had grown up watching cycling lurch from one doping scandal to the next, while French teams largely struggled, the seeming victims of a sport operating à deux vitesses.
Although the nascent biological passport offered the faint hope of levelling the playing field, the doubts persisted, even when Pinot had made his Tour de France debut and claimed a stylish victory in Porrentruy on stage 8.
Four days later, the 22-year-old was even more impressive in riding to second place on the summit finish at La Toussuire, but that night he lay awake until the small hours, confused and even troubled by what had happened.
“I didn’t understand why I was so strong. I thought I had been doped, that I had been drinking from the wrong bottle,” Pinot told L’Équipe (opens in new tab) on Thursday.
“I was the only one to follow [Chris] Froome when he attacked: not easily, but I was good. I didn’t sleep that night because I told myself that it wasn’t normal for me to be so strong at my age. It was starting to scare me. I had beaten the record up La Toussuire, which belonged to Contador.”
There were a great many things to unpack in the long, candid interview Pinot accorded to L’Équipe on Thursday following the announcement of his retirement at the end of this season, but his comments on doping were instructive.
Pinot began his career understandably unsure whether it was possible for a rider to be successful without doping. Now, even though he came close to carrying off some of the greatest prizes of all, he ends his tenure uncertain as to whether he was always competing on the same terms as some of his rivals.
“It didn’t ruin [my career], but it often frustrated me. Or put doubts in my mind,” Pinot said of doping. “For the rest, I’ll never know. I always told myself that a doped guy might not train as hard as I did, and that I could compensate by going deeper in pain. That’s how I reassured myself.
“After that, how many times did I finish second or third, knowing full well, or having strong doubts, that in fact the victory was mine…”
Asked how he lived with those doubts, Pinot acknowledged that they were simply part of the deal: “If you accept to ride a bike, then…”
Cycling fans who grapple with their own disbelief can understand the sentiment. It’s hard to explain.
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