A hundred metres or so past the finish line at Crans Montana, Thibaut Pinot stood slumped over his handlebars, his face pressed against his forearms and hidden. His Groupama-FDJ soigneur stood by his side in wordless solidarity, reluctant to encroach on the period of mourning at the end of stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia.
The moment called for privacy, but a ring of reporters had already tightened around Pinot. The moment called for silence, but a group of Colombian fans on the other side of the crash barrier was boisterously serenading the day's victor Einer Rubio as he rolled by.
