The pink definitely does not seem to go to the tricolor runners. After eight days of racing, it seems certain that Laurent Jalabert, the last Frenchman to have worn the leader’s jersey in the Tour of Italy, will still have to wait before knowing the name of his successor.
The French will not leave completely empty-handed from the 106th Tour of Italy. By winning the 4th stage of this Giro, Aurélien Paret-Peintre has already avoided a fanny in the tricolor camp. The French riders, on the other hand, are already dropped in the general classification. Pavel Sivakov, the highest ranked among them, indeed emerges in 10th position, three minutes from the pink jersey, recovered on Sunday by Remco Evenepoel before announcing his retirement.
As for Thibaut Pinot, who appeared to be the best French chance in the general classification, he is in 20th place, 5’33” behind the Belgian world champion. Unless there is a huge surprise, we will therefore have to wait at least another year to see a Frenchman put on the pink jersey. It’s been going on for almost a quarter of a century. To find a tricolor rider leading the Giro, you have to go back to 1999!
Landed on the Tour of Italy with solid ambitions, Laurent Jalabert had worn the pink jersey there for eight days before having to give up his leader’s tunic to Marco Pantani. Despite the Pirate’s exclusion two days from the finish in Milan due to too high a hematocrit, the Mazamétain had finally failed at the foot of the podium behind Ivan Gotti, Paolo Savoldelli and Gilberto Simoni.
Since then, if no Frenchman has worn the pink jersey, a tricolor rider has nevertheless managed to climb onto the Giro podium and thus succeed Charly Mottet, second in 1990. In 2011, John Gadret indeed ranks third behind Michele Scarponi and Vincenzo Nibali.