Thibaut Pinot selected for last ever Tour de France, Arnaud Demare omitted – ‘I’m angry and disheartened’

Thibaut Pinot has been selected by the Groupama-FDJ team for his final ever Tour de France – but Arnaud Demare has been overlooked.

Pinot, making his 10th appearance at the event, is one of eight riders selected.

The 33-year-old Frenchman will be full of confidence after finishing an impressive fifth overall at the Giro d’Italia and taking the King of Mountains classification.

“I’m very happy to be doing my last Tour de France,” Pinot said.

“With the form I was in coming out of the Giro and the form I’m still in a fortnight later, it would have been really frustrating not to be part of this team.

“I hope to have the best Tour de France possible and to have the same legs I had in the last week of the Giro.”

However, there is disappointment for French sprinter Demare, who will miss the Tour for the second consecutive year.

“Our team will be focused on the mountains. The objective is of course the general classification with David Gaudu,” said team manager Marc Madiot.

“We’ll also allow ourselves to go on the offensive with Thibaut Pinot, Valentin Madouas or Stefan Kung.

“This was the second hard blow,” Demare said.

“At the Boucles de la Mayenne, [Madiot] announced that it was the end with the Groupama. Not in so many words, but I understood that it was all over. He told me: ‘We can’t keep you.’ And that’s it.”

On missing the Tour, Demare added: “I’m angry and disheartened because I worked for this, and I made concessions this winter knowing that I would only have one team-mate with me for the sprints.

“It wasn’t a contest between Thibaut and me for a place. The three of us [with Gaudu] could have done a good job together.”

The 31-year-old has won two Tour stages in his career, making five appearances.

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