Thibaut Pinot heads into his final Tour de France, but the French star was in the breakaway for the first time in the 2023 race and was in the thick of it all the way to the finish.

Pinot, who finished fourth in Bilbao, dropped two places on stage 12 as Ion Izazire (Cofidis) won solo.

However, on the Beaujolais Wine Country roads, Pinot rode like a vintage and returned to the GC front.

He is currently 10th in the overall Tour de France standings, 6:33 behind yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma), but within 30 seconds of teammate and overall contender David Gaudoux. As a result, Groupama-FDJ heads to the Alps with two cards to play.

"My legs were no good, I blew up," Pinot told the press in the shade of Grupama-FDJ's bus before the warm-down.

"But even if I wasn't in shape, I gave it everything I had.

Pinot explained that he gave it his all early on to get into the break, but an exceptionally fast and hot day through rugged, hilly terrain kept him from getting back in shape to fight through the rest of the stage.

"This stage would have left many riders with tired legs. 'I fought hard, but so did the other riders in front of me. With that heat, it was a stage that required a lot of resilience."

Regarding his overall performance and the future, Pinot said, "I'm not too worried. I burned up quite a bit of competition today and I don't want to pay too much for that.

He insisted that Gordou remains the overall GC leader in the Tour de France. Today was too hard and I didn't enjoy it much. I did what I could."

Although he was unable to claim a final victory, it should be remembered that the Frenchman already has a Tour stage win in the Jura on Friday and in the Alps shortly afterwards. His first Grand Tour win came in 2012 in Porrentruy, and he hit the jackpot in 2015 in the Alpe d'Huez.

Last but not least, Pinot, who heads to Vosges for the third weekend, has already said he is highly motivated to race in his home town. And as far as stage 11 is concerned, it will be a long time before Pinot has had the last word on his last Tour de France.