Thibaut Pinot just missed out on the stage victory during the 13th stage of the Giro d’Italia. Afterwards, the French climber, who is in his last season, was very frustrated with the lack of help from his fellow escapee Jefferson Cepeda (EF Education-EasyPost). He also showed this in the interviews after the finish. During the stage there was also an exchange of words between the Frenchman and the Ecuadorian.
After Ben Healy also narrowly finished second today, Jonathan Vaughters, manager at EF Education, decided to throw a sneer at Pinot on Twitter. “I’m proud that Healy congratulated the winner and didn’t cry on camera about how unfair life can be sometimes.”
Proud to see that @_BHealyyy congratulated the winner, and didn’t go cry to the media about how life is sometimes unfair. Great attitude. Great person. Great rider.
— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) May 21, 2023
He then also made it clear that his sneer was indeed aimed at the Frenchman. “I’m not sure Pinot can read this tweet with all his tears.”
No sure huh @ThibautPinot could read it through all of his tears.
— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) May 21, 2023
Who is he? He’s a fucking 🤡. At least based on the 30+ years I’ve known him
— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) May 21, 2023
“And who are you?”, Pinot responded wittily to Vaughters’ swipe, after which none other than Lance Armstrong gave him the answer. “Who is he? It’s a f*cking clown. At least based on the 30 years that I have known him.” Both tweets were massively liked and retweeted.
Vaughters was a professional cyclist himself and rode for US Postal from 1998 to 1999, where he was Armstrong’s teammate. Vaughters later confessed that he also used EPO during that period.