Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) again confirmed that the time trial is now an asset for him as took the first TT win of his career on stage 2 of Criterium International. The Frenchman stopped the clock in 9.11 on the 7km course to beat Jerome Coppel (IAM) by two seconds, with Alexandre Geniez completing a great day for FDJ by taking third as one of 7 riders from the team in the top 18! Pinot also takes the overall lead.

When he turned professional, Thibaut Pinot was regarded as a pure climber but in the last few years he has proved that he is much more than that. Determined to improve his TT skills, he has made huge progress.

The first signs came at last year’s Criterium International where he finished fourth on the short 7km course in Porto-Vecchio. After that stage, he claimed that the time trial was now a weapon in his arsenal and not a chink in the armoury.

Since then he has confirmed his potential on numerous occasions but he has never been close to winning a time trial. Today he completed his journey towards specialist status by winning the Criterium International TT that he had done so well in 12 months earlier.

Pinot went into the race as the favourite to win the race overall but few had expected him to win the time trial outright as he was up against big specialists like Jerome Coppel and Matthias Brändle. However, he beat the former with a comfortable two-second margin while the latter was a disappointing 8th.

In general, the stage underlined the huge progress of the FDJ team which did so well in both the TTT and the ITT at Tirreno-Adriatico. Alexandre Geniez was third as one of seven riders in the top 1, with Jeremy Roy also finishing in the top 10.

Among the overall contenders, Pinot, Coppel and Geniez did best but there was also a promising ride for defending champion Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r) who lost five seconds in fifth. Huge talent Sam Oomen (Giant-Alpecin) confirmed his huge potential by taking seventh while Lawson Craddock (Cannondale) looms as a contender with 10th place as do Davide Villella(Cannondale), Odd Eiking (FDJ), Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie), Sebastien Reichenbach (FDJ) and Romain Sicard (Direct Energie) who all finished in the top 10. Climbers Pierre Rolland (Cannondale), Pierre Latour (Ag2r), Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) and Arnold Jeannesson (Cofidis) all lost more time and have more than 25 seconds to make up.

Race leader Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18) did really well to take 15th but it was not enough to defend the lead. Pinot now has a 2-second advantage over Coppel bu he still faces the hardest stage of the race and it all ends with the traditional mountaintop finish on the Col de l’Ospedale. After a flat start, the riders will cover three big climbs before they descend to a flat section that leads to the bottom of the final ascent which averages 6.2km over 14.1km and will determine the overall winner of the race.

A technical time trial

After the morning sprint stage, it was time for the traditional 7km time trial in Porto-Vecchio. After a flat and technical start, there were some power sections in the second half until the riders hit a small climb that led to the finish.

Like in the morning, it was beautiful sunshine when Matthew Goss (ONE) rolled down the ramp as the first rider. He stopped the clock in 10.22 to set an early mark but he was immediately beaten by Jeremy Leaveau who posted a time of 10.08.

Best time fro Roy

Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) became the first rider to post a competitive time with 9.34 before Julien Duval (Armee) slotted into second with 9.54. Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-Argon 18) did better with 9.45 which was 3 seconds better than William Bonnet (GDJ) could manage.

TT specialist Rasmus Quaade (Stölting) had a disappointing ride with 9.50 and instead it was Laurent Pichon who started a great day for FDJ by taking the lead with 9.32. He was beaten by a teammate less than one minute later as Jeremy Roy stopped the clock in 9.23.

Moser takes the lead

Odd Christian Eiking mad it three FDJ riders in the top 3 when he posted a time of 9.33 and that was fractions of a second better than Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) could manage. Julien Antomarchi (Roubaix) defended himself well to move into the top 10 with 9.40 but he was overshadowed by Thomas Rostollan (Armee) who posted the sixth best time of 9.37.

The FDJ dominance was broken by Moreno Moser (Cannondale) who was 8 seconds faster than Roy and this made slightly up for the disappointing ride for his teammate Pierre Rolland who could only manage 9.46. Another Cannondale rider did really well as Davide Villella slotted into third with 9.30.

Good ride by Peraud

Former winner Pierrick Fedrigo (Fortuneo) had a poor rider with 9.43 and this started a period with less competitive times until defending champion Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r) hit the course. The veteran had a great ride and only missed out on taking the lead by one second.

Stefan Denifl (IAM) did well to slot into the top 10 with 9.37 before another FDJ rider put himself in contention for the overall when Sebastien Reichenbach stopped the clock in 9.33. However, it was Jerome Coppel that everybody was waiting for and he lived up to expectations by taking the lead with a time og 9.13.

Geniez takes the lead

Fredrik Ludvigsson (Giant-ALpecin) was close to the top 10 before Coppel faced the first serious threat from Alexandre Geniez (FDJ). The Frenchman confirmed his huge progress as he was only one second off the pace in second place.

Patrick Konrad (Bora-Argon 18) made it into the top 15 but it was another stage race talent, Sam Oomen (Giant-Alpecin), who shone by slotting into fifth with 9.21. Anthony Delaplace (Fortuneo) was 8th with a time of 9.30.

Disappointment for Brändle

TT specialist Lennard Kämna (Stölting) performed poorly with 9.50 before Romain Sicard (Direct Energie) put himself in GC contention with 9.33. The same was true for Lawson Craddock (Cannondale) who made it into the top 10 with 9.28.

Matthias Brändle (IAM) was one of the favourites but his time of 9.21 was only good enough for sixth.  Surpiringsly, Marcin Bialoblocki(ONE) was far off the pace.

Pinot takes the win

Everybody now had their eyes on Pinot and he did the time trial of his life to beat Coppel’s time by 2 seconds. His first serious threat came from teammate Anthony Roux but he was only 11th with 9.30. Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r) defended himself well with 9.40 which was the same time as specialist Patrick Gretsch (Ag2r) could manage and GC contender Arnold Jeannesson (Cofidis) was just 1 second further off the pace.

With mainly sprinters in the final part of the race, it was only Ramunas Navarduaskas (Cannondale) who was expected to pose a threat but he could only manage 7th. GC rider Pierre Latour (Ag2r) did reasonable well with 9.38 while climber Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) also did well with 9.42. Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon) honoured the jersey well by posting the 15th fastest time but it was not enough to deny Pinot.