‘You don’t reach across a rider!’ – Thibaut Pinot wiped out by bag on Stage 8 of Tour de France

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama–FDJ) was at the centre of an extraordinary incident during Stage 8 of the Tour de France.

First, his run of bad luck at the French Grand Tour continued when he crashed in amongst the peloton after what appeared to be a touch of wheels. However, much worse was to come following an incident with a soigneur.

The 32-year-old was taken from his bike when an over-eager soigneur from another team tried to reach across him with a feed bag.

The Groupama–FDJ rider attempted to take evasive manoeuvres but his face was met by a combination of the soigneur’s forehand and the bag.

The Frenchman came off his bike, took a moment to steady himself, received some treatment on the side of the road and then, incredibly, got back on.

“Oh no!” said Carlton Kirby on commentary.

“He is in tears on the side of the road,” added Kirby – assuming, having not seen the incident with the soigneur – that Pinot’s earlier crash had brought his race to an early conclusion.

As pictures emerged of the incident, Robbie McEwen took up detailing what went on.

“No, no, no,” began McEwen. “That is not Pinot’s fault!”

“His sunglasses actually smashed in his face,” interjected Kirby, before McEwen added:

“He has caught about 5kg of feed bag straight in the face. Luckily most of the stuff in the feed bag is soft.”

Pinot was given a push back on to his bike by what appeared to be a member of the Trek team, and McEwen went on to add:

“It is Trek. They will be apologising profusely because that is a no-no – you don’t reach across a rider. No matter how much of an emergency, you don’t reach across a rider.”

It continues a terrible run of luck at the Tour for Pinot. In 2019, he had to abandon due to a torn quadricep, and then in 2020 he was involved in a nasty crash on the race’s opening stage.

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