Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) has always been sober in his analysis of his own prospects. On the eve of this Giro d`Italia, for instance, he told L`Équipe that while he believed himself to be a fine rider, he questioned whether he would ever be considered a champion. `I do the best I can, and if that`s enough, then so be it,` Pinot said then. On the slopes of Costalissoio on Sunday, Pinot was equally clear-headed in his assessment of the situation when Simon Yates launched his devastating onslaught on the front group. As soon as the maglia rosa raised himself from the saddle, it was clear that he was operating on a different plane to Pinot and the rest. So it goes. `When he made his second acceleration yesterday, I didn`t move. I didn`t even think about it. I couldn`t,` Pinot said during his rest day press conference in Trento on Monday. `I was already glad just to get up to him the first time. When he went again, we were all already flat out. For the moment, he`s really untouchable.`ADVERTISEMENT Six stages from the end of the Giro, Yates holds a lead of 2:11 over Tom Dumoulin, while Pinot lies in fourth place overall, 2:37 down. Yates has helped himself to three stage wins (it would have been four had he not ceded victory on Mount Etna to his teammate Esteban Chaves) and has given the rather extraordinary impression that he can drop his rivals whenever the mood takes him. A year ago, Pinot finished fourth overall in a Giro of such depth that men of the calibre of Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali marvelled at the intensity of the racing as they tried to break eventual winner Dumoulin`s resolve in the high mountains. As he ran the rule over the first two weeks of action, Pinot explained that, if anything, the level required has been even higher this time around. `I`m finding that for the moment, some people are stronger,` Pinot said. `For example, [Domenico] Pozzovivo is stronger than last year. Yates is also stronger than Quintana was in the mountains. So ...
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