the Italian classics campaign; his best results included a 2nd place at Tre Valli Varesine and 5th at Il Lombardia. 2018 Going into the 2018 season, Pinot was yet again targeting the Giro d'Italia. However this time he was looking to reduce his number of race days before the Giro in other to arrive more fresh at the Tour. Pinot had therefore only 14 race days in his legs before the start of May. However he managed to win the Tour of the Alps overall at the end of April showing great form ahead of the Giro. Having finished 3rd on stage 19 to Bardonecchia, Pinot advanced to 3rd place overall. Pinot suffered a monumental collapse during and after the 16.5 km-long climb to the Col de Saint-Pantaléon in the Aosta Valley, the penultimate Category 1 climb of Stage 20 (the penultimate stage) of the 2018 Giro d'Italia; he was among the main peloton at the base of the climb to the Col de Saint-Pantaléon, but was dropped and reached the top of the climb 21 minutes after the pink jersey group did. A few hours after crossing the finishing line of Stage 20 about 45 minutes behind the stage winner Mikel Nieve, Pinot was hospitalized in Aosta due to dehydration, exhaustion, fever and respiratory problems. Having begun the Giro's Stage 20 in third place in the general classification, Pinot dropped to 16th place at the end of Stage 20, 43:46 behind leader Chris Froome. Pinot withdrew from the race before the start of the final stage. Unable to fully recover from the fatigue and pneumonia suffered during the Giro d'Italia, Pinot's team announced that he would not ride the upcoming 2018 Tour de France. Pinot recovered and trained in order to ride his third Vuelta a España. As he finished 3rd overall at Tour de Pologne he was regarded as one of the main favorites at the Vuelta. However Pinot already lost time on stage 6 due to a combination of crosswinds and crashes which saw both him and Wilco Kelderman lose time. On a hilly stage 11, Pinot went into the breakaway, and was in the virtual leaders jersey at some point in the stage. On the last climb the peloton rode at a high pace, and Pinot only 12 seconds on the general classification contenders. On stage 14, Pinot almost managed to follow some of the main