When Thibaut Pinot fell into the arms of his teammate William Bonnet by the roadside 36km into Friday’s stage of the Tour from Saint Jean de Maurienne to Tignes, the scene was heart-rending but familiar. Pinot, and the Tour, have been here before. The dramatic, tragic story of a Frenchman who has captivated the home crowd and is forced out by ill fortune and great physical suffering is a plot-line the Tour has written many times.
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